Hoops HD

Under The Radar Game of the Day: Georgia State at Montana

Posted on November 9, 2018 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

For Jon Teitel’s interview with Knight Commission committee member Jim Tooley – CLICK HERE

Georgia State (1-0) at Montana (0-0), 9:00 PM EST (watchbigsky.com/Pluto TV)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day features two teams favored to win their respective conferences – the Georgia State Panthers (Sun Belt) and the Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky). Both teams are also coming off seasons in which they qualified for the NCAA Tournament as well. This will be Montana’s first regular season game after a 90-58 win in an exhibition tuneup against Whitworth. That game saw 5 Montana players score in double figures (led by Sayeed Pritchett’s 17 points and 7 rebounds).

Georgia State defeated East Tennessee State 74-68 in their opener at home on Tuesday night. Jeff Thomas led the Panthers in that game with 26 points; D’Marcus Simonds also had 21 points in that game for Georgia State as well. However, Georgia State was outrebounded in that game 49-39 (including an eye-opening 27 offensive rebounds by ETSU).

Posted in Under the Radar | Tagged Big Sky, georgia state, Montana, sun belt, under the radar | Comments Off

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Friday, Nov 9th

Posted on November 9, 2018 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-The Bracket Racket is back!!! The band is back together!! If you’ve listened to all of our podcasts and still can’t get enough, check these guys out. They’ve all been on Hoops HD before, Galen Clavio actually played a huge part in getting this whole place rolling, and they interact with us so much that it feels like that while we may not be roommates, we are college suite mates that share the same common area – CLICK HERE

…and I give them a shout out for two reasons. 1) they do a great job, and 2) LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE OF NOTE HAPPENED LAST NIGHT!!

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-SAVANNAH STATE AT GEORGIA. THE TEAM OF THE PEOPLE!!! Savannah State played an exciting brand of basketball and made several runs at Texas A&M the other night despite being behind. They showed some signs of life, and it will be interesting to see what they do against a Georgia team tonight that we don’t think is quite as good as TAMU.

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT KENTUCKY. Kentucky was blown through the roof in their opener against Duke. They’re back at home against a far more manageable opponent tonight, but this is a VERY good Southern Illinois team. We like this team so much that we think they can make the NCAA Tournament, and if they can pick up a few wins in games like this they won’t need to win the conference tournament to do it. I have to give props to Kentucky. They always schedule an early game against a very good UTR team. They hosted Vermont early in the season last year.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT ELON. UNC is going after their second true road win of the season. Not a bad start! Elon won their opener, but has a rather tall order tonight.

-DREXEL AT EASTERN MICHIGAN. It wasn’t easy or pretty, but EMU won their first game and we still like their chances in the MAC.

-WICHITA STATE VS PROVIDENCE (Veterans Classic – Annapolis, MD). It’s gonna be a long year for the Shockers and picking up their first win today won’t be easy. Providence can improve to 2-0 with a win.

-LOUISIANA AT TENNESSEE. Both teams 1-0. Tennessee looking for their first D-I win.

-LEHIGH AT MIAMI FL. Lehigh won their first game on the road decisively against Monmouth. This is a buy game and may not be all that interesting, but it will shoot Lehigh through the roof if they’re somehow able to win it.

-STONY BROOK AT SOUTH CAROLINA. Both teams come in 1-0, and Stony Brook is coming off an exciting road win against George Washington.

-MISSOURI AT IOWA STATE. Both teams come in with a win, but neither was really tested. Mizzou is battling injuries, but should get better as the year goes on. This is a big game for both teams because it will give them some momentum, but also give them a nice early win on their resume.

-STANFORD AT UNC WILMINGTON. This is a good chance for Stanford to put a road win on their resume against a beatable UNCW team that’s coming off a very exciting loss to Campbell in their opener.

-NORTHEASTERN AT HARVARD (Bean Pot). Northeastern is coming off a rather heartbreaking loss at home to rival Boston U, where they had what appeared to be a pretty comfortable lead in the second half, but couldn’t hold on to it. They go on the road to face a Harvard team that we think is good. The Crimson won their opener against MIT, but is still looking for their first D-I win.

-ARKANSAS VS TEXAS (Armed Forces Classic – Fort Bliss). We really like this Texas team! As for Arkansas, well, we really like this Texas team! Arkansas is in a bit of a reset mode, but if they can pull off the surprise win tonight then that may be an indication that they’re capable of getting reset in a hurry.

-OLD DOMINION AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. ODU won their season opener, but has a much taller order tonight against a Saint Joe’s team that we think could be a bit of a dark horse in the A10.

-UNC GREENSBORO AT LSU. This is a buy game, but we really like this UNCG team and think they can make quite a bit of noise in the SoCon this year. This would be a huge statement win for them if they’re somehow able to pull off the upset. LSU is better, but the Tigers better not overlook them.

-OKLAHOMA AT UTRGV. A bit of an unusual game for the Sooners to open their season with. But, it’s a winnable road game, so on paper it’s better than playing it at home.

-BUFFALO AT WEST VIRGINIA. I know Buffalo lost some big pieces from their team a year ago that made the Round of 32, but I still really like them. They ran away from Saint Francis U in their opener, but have a much taller order today against a very good West Virginia team. The Eers better not overlook them, though.

-UTEP AT NEW MEXICO STATE. This is a rivalry game between two teams that are coming in 1-0. New Mexico State doesn’t appear to be quite as strong as what we are used to seeing, and UTEP has a ways to go before they are rebuilt, but the winner of this game will have some early momentum built up after the first week.

-GEORGIA STATE AT MONTANA. This is an UTR game, but it’s worth highlighting because it’s a Georgia State team that we feel is the best in the Sun Belt, and a Montana team that we feel is among the best in the Big Sky.

-WASHINGTON AT AUBURN. Washington had a nice win to open the season against a pretty good Western Kentucky team, and now travels most of the way across the country to take on an Auburn team that’s coming off a win in a buy game and ranked really high. This is a really good early season test for both teams, as well as a chance to add a good win on their resume.

-UC IRVINE AT TEXAS A&M. I really like this UCI team and think they have a shot at picking this one up on the road. Both come into this one 1-0.

-UTAH VALLEY AT BYU. A nice regional pseudo-rivalry match-up. Utah Valley won their opener, and while BYU didn’t win at Nevada, they made a really good account of themselves.

-YALE AT CALIFORNIA (Shanghai China). It’s the season opener for both teams. Truth be told we aren’t expecting all that much out of either one of them, but who knows? One of them will get to start things off with a win.

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

-Bowling Green @ Saint John’s – both teams 1-1
-Gardner Webb @ Virginia Tech
-NC Central @ Clemson
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Rutgers
-VMI @ Pittsburgh – both teams 1-0
-Dartmouth @ Davidson – both teams 1-0
-Longwood @ Richmond – Longwood is 1-0
-Detroit @ Temple
-Charleston Southern @ Florida
-Hampton @ VCU – both teams 1-0
-American @ George Mason
-New Hampshire @ UMass – both teams 1-0
-Vermont @ Boston U – BU had a nice road win in their opener
-Northern Kentucky @ Northern Illinois – both teams 1-0
-Austin Peay @ Mississippi State – APSU is 1-0
-Jacksonville State @ Samford – a season opener for a Jax St. team that we think will be good in the OVC
-Coastal Carolina @ Campbell – both teams 1-0
-North Florida @ Penn State
-Lamar @ Georgia Tech
-James Madison @ East Carolina – both teams 1-0
-Kennesaw State @ Kansas State
-Montana State @ Indiana
-Rice @ Penn – both teams 1-0
-Furman @ Loyola Chicago – both teams 1-0
-Maryland @ Navy (Veterans Classic) – winnable road game for the Terps
-Eastern Washington @ Oregon
-Mississippi Valley State @ Texas Tech
-McNeese @ Arizona State
-Pacific @ Nevada – both teams 1-0
-Long Beach State @ UCLA

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Comments Off

Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics: HoopsHD interviews panelist Jim Tooley

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Jon Teitel

Last month the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics held a public meeting at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, to discuss USA Basketball programs/policies that affect elite college basketball players, requirements for coaching education/certification, and accountability throughout college sports. The Commission subsequently asked the NCAA to establish more serious oversight standards regarding shoe and apparel income (a call for greater public transparency) and college basketball coaches (via a higher level of professional preparation/certification). In light of all the recent scandals and health concerns in college sports these issues seem to be more important than ever before. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel attended the meeting and conducted interviews with multiple Knight Commission panelists. We begin our exclusive 2-part series with panelist Jim Tooley (CEO of USA Basketball), who discussed the 2020 Olympics as well as the 1-and-done rule.

You joined USA Basketball in 1993 as the Men’s National Team director and were appointed CEO in 2001: what do you do and what has been the best moment of the past 25 years? We have had a lot of great years during that time and won many gold medals. There are so many competitions but I find a lot of satisfaction in the expansion of the organization into youth development. I am very proud of our work in coach development and we want to get even deeper. We are bringing some structure to an unstructured space.

Team USA finished 6th at the 2002 FIBA World Championship and lost 3 times at the 2004 Olympics before winning the bronze medal: how on earth did that happen, and what impact have those tournaments had on the past 2 decades of USA Basketball? You will think I am crazy but it might have been the best thing to happen to the organization/sport. Sometimes you need to take a step backward before moving ahead. There was an article in 2008/2009 about it becoming “en vogue” to play for the USA. We could have hung our heads but all of the stakeholders rallied around us and we came out stronger/more credible. Building that sustainability/success has allowed us to expand our reach.

You previously stated that 1 of the best games you have ever seen in person was the 2008 USA-Spain gold medal game: what are your memories of that final 1 decade later? It was nerve-racking! Everyone thinks that you just show up and win the gold medal but so much effort went into it. Dwyane Wade played great and Kobe Bryant knocked down a dagger…but Spain just did not go away. Sometimes when you win a gold medal there is a feeling of relief but in 2008 it was a feeling of joy.

Last summer the International Olympic Committee voted to include 3-on-3 basketball in the 2020 Olympics in Japan: how do you like the idea, and who do you envision representing the USA (current pros, former college stars, no-names, other)? I absolutely love the idea: I was on 1 of FIBA’s working groups and was also a 3-on-3 ambassador. It gets the sport into parts of the world like Hungary/Estonia where it was not previously as prominent. FIBA recently came out with their eligibility criteria: for the USA it will most likely involve post-college players who are not currently in the NBA. We will have to get creative because it will be a tough task to qualify as a country: there are only 8 men’s and 8 women’s spots available.

You are also a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Trustees: what kind of stuff do you do, and how cool is it to have Dr. James Naismith’s grandson as a fellow trustee? It is an honor to serve on the board. Going to the enshrinement ceremony and seeing all the greats there like Bill Russell/Spencer Haywood/Rick Barry is awesome. Due to all of my work with FIBA, I serve on the international committee and recommend who gets into the Hall of Fame from the international community.

In August you said your organization was “caught off guard” by the NCAA’s proposal that USA Basketball would determine which elite young athletes could hire agents in the new system: are you caught up now, and do you think it is a good idea for high school kids to have agents? There was a miscommunication for sure: it had been discussed but USA Basketball will not be the group to identify which players get agents. It did not make sense for us to identify kids for 2 reasons: we only work with American players (not international prospects) and some of our national teams have players (like Paul George) who did not come up through the junior national team ranks.

You were a panelist at the Knight Commission’s October meeting regarding programs/policies that affect elite men’s college basketball players: what was the most important message that you wanted to convey to the audience? We wanted to convey that we have athlete protections and coach licensing programs. Many people think that we just put an Olympic team together every 4 years so it is nice to spread our gospel because we spend more time doing things other than that.

In light of last month’s guilty verdicts in the college basketball “pay-for-play” trial of James Gatto/Merl Code/Christian Dawkins, what tools do you recommend to strengthen oversight of college sports? We are just getting started with the recommendations and their implementation. Once it all starts I want to see the impact of the recommendations (on recruiting in June, on the NCAA camps in July, etc.), but right now it is simply too early to tell.

What do you think of the 1-and-done rule, and what was your reaction to the G League’s announcement earlier this month that they will pay elite high school players who do not want to go to college $125,000? We are not the authority on the 1-and-done rule but were told that the earliest it could happen is 2022. I think the G League offer is a nice 1 but I do not know what impact it will have on guys like Marvin Bagley/RJ Barrett deciding to turn pro right out of high school rather than going to Duke. However, take a player like Terrance Ferguson: I think that it would have been great for him to stay home in the US and be seen rather than go to Australia because he was not visible to most people who wanted to scout him. I think it is a nice option to have for some kids but they will not let every kid get paid that money: it will be pretty selective.

My friend who went to Colorado State wants to know if you have ever been to the Pickle Barrel for lunch, and if so what is your favorite item on the menu? I have never been there! My place was the Horsetooth Inn: you had to drive up the mountain to get there but it is not around anymore.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged Jim Tooley, Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics | Comments Off

Under The Radar Game of the Day: Maine-Fort Kent at Liberty (and other news)

Posted on November 8, 2018 by John Stalica

For the most recent Hoops HD Report and Under the Radar Podcast combined into one – CLICK HERE

Maine-Fort Kent at Liberty, 7:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the lovely metropolis of Lynchburg, Virginia – the Bengals of Maine-Fort Kent (NAIA) will play the Liberty Flames. Liberty is coming off of a season where they advanced to the semifinals of the CIT before losing to Illinois-Chicago. This will also be the Flames’ first season in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Thanks to head coach Ritchie McKay’s (former associate head coach at Virginia under Tony Bennett) leadership, the Flames were one of the Top 10 teams in the nation last year in terms of scoring defense. They were also one of the best free throw shooting teams last year at a 79.4% clip. This game should be more of a tune-up for Liberty; their first game against D-I competition will come on Friday, November 16 when they travel to Kent State.

OTHER NEWS, NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-Last night was kind of a chalky night. Cal State Bakersfield made TCU really work for their win, and Cincinnati and Ohio State put most people to sleep by halftime before OSU picked up a really nice road win, but that was about it when it comes to what was noteworthy.

-Well, there was one exception. Texas-San Antonio was expected to be a noisemaker in Conference USA this year, and they may still end up being one. However, they will have the dubious distinction of losing to non-DI St. Edward’s on their profile this year.

-EVANSVILLE AT ILLINOIS. We aren’t all that excited about either of these teams, but who knows? It’s the season opener for both, and it’s probably the most notetworthy game of the night

-Chicago State @ Notre Dame
-Nicholls @ Louisville – Nicholls is 1-0
-Morehead State @ UConn – Morehead State is 1-0
-Southwest Assembly of God (non-DI) @ SFA – SFA is 1-0
-Alabama State @ South Dakota State
-UMKC @ Iowa
-New Orleans @ Northwestern – New Orleans is 1-0
-Northwestern State @ SMU – Northwestern State is 1-0
-Maine @ Utah

Posted in Under the Radar | Tagged Atlantic Sun, liberty, under the radar | Comments Off

The Hoops HD Report Under the Radar Hybrid Show! Nov 7th

Posted on November 7, 2018 by David Griggs

The new start to the season has thrown us off our normal routine a bit, so this week we are meshing the Hoops HD Report and the Under the Radar Podcasts into one. It was a busy and eventful opening night where we saw some really good games, but none of those were the showcase games. We recap all the action, take a look at some of the upsets, and preview the notable upcoming games for the rest of the week…

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

Posted in Hoops HD Report, Podcasts, Under the Radar, Videocasts | Comments Off

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 7th

Posted on November 7, 2018 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-And the craziness has begun on Day 1!!

-The top five match-up between Kentucky and Duke started off with Kentucky winning the tip, and then winning pretty much nothing after that. Duke ran them over in a very impressive showing. I don’t think Duke will always play that dominantly, and I don’t think Kentucky is going to end the season without being anywhere close to the #1 or #2 line, but for a moment in time (and granted it was the first moment) Duke blew their doors off.

-Before that, Kansas had a comfortable lead over Michigan State for most of the game, but with less than a minute to go the Spartans had cut it to 3. The Jayhawks held on for a huge win, and even thought it’s this early it will likely be one of their biggest wins of the season.

-North Carolina picked up a very nice road win at Wofford. I know on the surface that doesn’t seem too exciting, but when you step back from it this is a very good Wofford team that may not lose at home for the rest of the year, so it’s a good win for the Heels.

-Florida State blew Florida off the floor in a win over a rival that had to feel good. The Noles were in the Elite Eight last year and look to be good again this year. Since the football team isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, don’t be surprised if you see a swell of support for this basketball team even as early as November.

-Western Kentucky had a string of off the court ‘issues’ (we’ll go with that) leading in to a hugely important game against Washington. Nevertheless, they had a halftime lead and appeared to be in control for the first part of the second half, but then Washington finally got it together and looked great in the latter part of the game. This is big because WKU’s chances at notable wins go away once conference play begins, and although this doesn’t sink them, they need to win a few games like this one if they want to impress the selection committee.

-Arizona State had all kinds of trouble with Cal State Fullerton, and at times looked to be beaten, but ended up pulling it out in double overtime in a game that was much more exciting than expected.

If you missed it, there was A LOT of excitement involving UTR Teams, and since it’s the first day and everyone is technically tied for first, then at least for right now these were all big games!

-Penn picked up an exciting 1pt road win against a George Mason team that we felt could be a top 40 team.
-Stony Brook fell down 22-0 at GW, but came back to win in overtime
-NJIT went to overtime, but got by Colgate
-Florida A&M picked up their first true OOC road win since 2008 with a 65-50 win at Jacksonville, so BIG TIME congrats to them!
-Campbell held off UNC Wilmington in a seesaw overtime thriller
-Boston U got a surprising 77-74 road win against a very good Northeastern team in a thriller that seesawed back and forth.
-Cal State Northridge fell at home to New Mexico (who I know is not UTR) on a last second 3pt shot that banked in. Mark Gottfired just missed picking up a big win in his debut at CSUN.

-Last, but certainly not least, South Dakota State knocked off Grand Canyon, but what I took away from this game is how impressed I was with both teams. GCU fell behind, but kept battling back, and this is a South Dakota State team that we feel is good enough to perhaps end up not needing the automatic bid on Selection Sunday, so it was a good showing for both teams despite the loss.

-Oh yea, and Texas Southern knocked off Baylor for one of the bigger true road wins of the day! Congrats to Johnny Jones for winning his debut with Texas Southern.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-OHIO STATE AT CINCINNATI. YES!!!!! FINALLY!!!!! These two teams, despite both being very accomplished programs, have only played about ten times since 1921, and have not played a game that did not involve the NCAA Tournament or a third party scheduler for I don’t know how long. This is a great game and series for both programs, and it’s a great game for both teams to open the season with. It is currently just a two year deal, but I hope it turns into a fixture game that we get to enjoy every year. As for the match-up, both teams seemed to have lost more than what they are bringing back, but we still expect both of them to contend for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, so it’s a good chance at a quality win.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT TEXAS A&M. YOUR TEAM OF THE PEOPLE!!!! Unless something changes (and we really hope it does) this will be the last season opener for Savannah State at the div1 level. Winning this game, or any other buy game, will be a huge challenge because we know how overmatched they are, but if they could somehow win just one of these, it would put them in the spotlight and hopefully make it so more people can learn their story. We will be supporting them all year long!!

-BUCKNELL AT SAINT BONAVENTURE. Both teams are in complete rebuild mode after being good for several years in a row, and it may be a rough ride for either one of them to make any sort of a postseason tournament.

BUY GAMES

-North Florida @ Dayton
-Bethune Cookman @ DePaul
-Cal State Bakersfield @ TCU
-Colorado Christian (nondiv1) @ Colorado State
-Houston Baptist @ Arizona
-McNeese @ Saint Mary’s