NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, which features THE TEAM OF THE PEOPLE!! CLICK HERE
-For our latest Under the Radar Podcast, where we recap a busy and exciting week for a lot of UTR teams including last night’s action – CLICK HERE
-There were an abundance of exciting games yesterday, but not too many cataclysmic outcomes.
-Duke had to really sweat at Indiana, but they remain unbeaten and pick up their first true road win of the year.
-Miami FL picked up a HUGE win at Minnesota in a game where they played really well against a really good team in a really hostile environment.
-Michigan kept pace at North Carolina for a half, but UNC opened it up down the stretch. I didn’t realize that this was the first time those two had met since the infamous timeout game in the 1993 Championship Game.
-With apologies to our colleague Kyle Lamb, Clemson also got a nice road win at Ohio State (cough)just like football(cough).
-There is one final ACC/B1G Challenge game to be played, but it has been an absolute whitewash in favor of the ACC this year. The only two wins for the B1G were Purdue’s win at home against Louisville on Tuesday night and Nebraska’s win at home last night against Boston College.
-Louisiana Tech missed a huge opportunity to pick up a big road win at Alabama after they leading for pretty much the entire game. A missed three pointer at the buzzer would have forced overtime. LA Tech will have another shot at Texas later on. If they can pick up that win then you have to start thinking of them as a possible at-large caliber team.
-UConn beat Columbia. No surprise there. They needed overtime to do it. That is an astounding surprise.
-Northern Iowa handed UNLV their first loss of the season in an overtime thriller. UNI now has wins over UNLV, SMU, and NC State. Their only losses re to Villanova and North Carolina. The Panthers are off to a fantastic start.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SETON HALL VS TEXAS TECH (MSG, New York). Texas Tech is off to an incredibly surprising start with a 6-0 record and some really good wins. They have another big test today against a Seton Hall team that comes in 5-1 and is looking for a quality win on their resume. Both teams are potential tournament teams, and this is the kind of win that can help get them there.
-NOTRE DAME AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge) I believe this is the fifth top ten, and third top five, match-up that we’ve seen this November. Both teams are off to incredible starts, both are likely protected seeds, and this is the kind of game that #1 seeds are able to win. It should be a fun one.
-MEMPHIS AT UAB. Memphis can improve to 4-1 on the year and pick up their first road win of the year.
-SOUTH CAROLINA VS TEMPLE (MSG, New York). Both of these teams could really use this win. South Carolina has had their struggles, and while Temple won their exempt tournament, they followed that up with a loss to LaSalle and are looking to rebound.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT UTEP. New Mexico State can improve to 5-1 on the year and pick up their first true road win. For UTEP it will be their first game without Tim Floyd.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT SAN DIEGO. This one should be fun. San Diego comes in without a loss and San Diego State comes in with just one loss. Both teams are looking for notable wins, and this is a chance for them to pick one up in a rivalry game.
BUY GAMES
-NJIT @ West Virginia
-North Dakota State @ Mississippi State – Mississippi State is trying to remain unbeaten
-Western Carolina @ Charleston – not necessarily a buy game, but if CofC plays like they’re capable of playing it should look like one
-UTRGV @ Texas A&M
-North Texas @ Oklahoma
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 29th
NEWS AND NOTES
-Louisville v Purdue was a rock fight last night without a lot of offensive flow, but it was an exciting rock fight that seesawed back and forth and saw Purdue picking up the win at home. Louisville was in the game, and has to be encouraged to a degree that they didn’t play well but still had a chance to win it, but to date all they’ve done is win home buy games.
-Xavier got a nice win against a pretty good Baylor team in the night’s only top 25 match up.
-South Dakota State had a 20 point second half lead against Ole Miss that they blew, but they still held on to pick up a huge win in overtime and improve to 7-2 on the year with one of the losses being at Kansas. They should finish with a very bloated record, and who knows? Maybe they’ll land on (or even inside) the bubble.
-Iowa stinks.
-Will the real Saint Louis team please show up? We’re not sure if it is the team that defeated Virginia Tech at Madison Square Garden or the team with back-to-back home losses to Detroit and Western Michigan.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-PENN AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). Nova is unbeaten on the year and playing like they could be a #1 seed. Penn, while more impressive than we thought they’d be so far, is way overmatched in this one.
-MERCER AT TENNESSEE. It’s a buy game, but Mercer is off to an impressive 5-2 start and could be one of the better teams in the SoCon this year. Tennessee already has some good wins on their resume.
-AUBURN AT DAYTON. Despite a tumultuous offseason, Auburn has just one loss, but really needs some notable wins. Dayton is rebuilding, but it’s still a tough place to win on the road at.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SIENA. You get the sense that the Bonnies need to start winning games and that their margin for error is becoming more and more narrow. This would be somewhat damaging if they’re not able to pull it off.
-BUCKNELL AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. We expected a big year from Bucknell, which could still happen. They’ve won three in a row since starting off 0-4, but anything short of winning out may not be enough to get them into the NCAAs without the auto bid. This is the kind of game they would certainly need to be able to win.
-VERMONT AT RICHMOND. We really like this Vermont team. They’ve won five in a row since narrowly losing the opener at Kentucky and have another winnable road game tonight.
-COLGATE AT ALBANY. Albany is coming off their first loss of the season, but they still appear to be a strong team and could possibly play their way into the conversation if they keep winning at the clip they have been.
-NC STATE AT PENN STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). We like both these teams and have been impressed with what each of them has done so far. This game is two teams coming in with some decent wins already and a lot of momentum who are looking to build on that momentum.
-CLEMSON AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both of these teams come in with good records, but they need good wins on their resume as well. Ohio State let one slip away against Butler in their last game and are looking to rebound.
-MICHIGAN AT NORTH CAROLINA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). This appears to be a huge mismatch, although Michigan does have just one loss it’s their first true road game and by far their toughest opponent so far. UNC, with the exception of their last game, played well in the PK-80 and is looking to build on that.
-LOUISIANA TECH AT ALABAMA. Alabama is coming off of a loss, but it was a valiant effort considering that they had to finish the game with just three players. LA Tech has looked good this year and comes in unbeaten. This is a chance for them to pick up a signature win and make a case to the selection committee that they belong in the discussion.
-UNLV AT NORTHERN IOWA (Mtn West/MVC Challenge). This could be the game of the day, as UNI has a pair of good wins and their only losses were to North Carolina and a competitive showing against Villanova. UNLV comes in unbeaten. These are two good teams (at least so far) who are looking for the kind of win that would impress the selection committee.
-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT WESTERN KENTUCKY. Western Kentucky picked up some good wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis and if they keep playing at that level they could find themselves inside the bubble.
-BELMONT AT TCU. Belmont is coming off a disappointing and damaging loss to Lipscomb, and that followed a loss at the buzzer at Providence. If they want to prove their relevance to the committee they need to pick up a win like this and avoid bad losses the rest of the way. TCU is unbeaten and has cracked the rankings. They’ve undergone a drastic improvement since Jamie Dixon took over.
-WYOMING AT DENVER (Front Range). Wyoming has just one loss on the year, and that came against Cincinnati. They can pick up their second true road win of the season tonight, and do it against a Front Range rival.
-MIAMI FL AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Everyone is dogging Minney because of how their game ended against Alabama. They were outplayed by just three players. What people are forgetting is that they’ve won at Providence, they had a double digit lead against Alabama when Bama was playing with five players, and they’re unbeaten on the year. This is a VERY good Minney team, and while Miami is good as well, this is their first opponent that’s not a cupcake. Both teams are ranked and it’s a chance at an early season quality win.
-BOSTON COLLEGE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both teams come in 5-2, and a much improved BC team could add a nice road win to their profile if they can pull this off.
-DUKE AT INDIANA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Despite this being a true road game for Duke, I don’t foresee it as being much of a challenge. They’ve knocked off two top ten teams on neutral floors already, so they’ve certainly put together the best resume in the country so far.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT NEVADA (Mtn West/MVC Challenge). Nevada is a perfect 6-0 with two really good wins on their resume already. It’s ridiculous that they’re not in the top 25, and they shouldn’t have too much trouble tonight against a solid Illinois State team.
BUY GAMES
-Columbia @ UConn
-Rider @ Providence – could be a potential upset special here
-UT Martin @ LSU
-New Orleans @ Houston
-Alcorn State @ Tulane – Tulane can improve to 6-1
-Long Beach @ Arizona
-Oral Roberts @ Kansas State
-Austin Peay @ Oklahoma State
-Florida A&M @ Texas
-Rice @ UT Arlington – not a buy game, but UTA has just one loss, and it was at the buzzer to Alabama
-Incarnate Word @ Gonzaga
-Chicago State @ Marquette
-Cal State Bakersfield @ UCLA