Under the Radar Games of the Day: Hall of Fame Belfast Classic (and other highlighted games)

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Chad

Holy Cross vs Manhattan, 11:30 AM Eastern, CBS Sports Network
Towson vs La Salle, 2:00 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network

We have seen NCAA Division I basketball games played around the world, from China to Germany, from Mexico to Japan, and we even have the potential of a game in Greece coming soon (Mark Hollis wants the Michigan State Spartans to battle the USC Trojans there).  One place we have never had American college basketball go yet has been Northern Ireland . . . until today.  The Hall of Fame Belfast Classic tournament starts this afternoon (this evening for those actually in Belfast) as Holy Cross take on Manhattan in the first semifinal, followed by Towson and La Salle in the second game.  The losers will meet in a consolation game tipping at 9:30 AM Eastern tomorrow, while the title game is scheduled for Noon.

Holy Cross enters today’s game at at 2-3 overall, with a road win at Sacred Heart and a home win over Harvard.  The Crusaders have lost 3 straight, however, including a 78-62 loss at home to Albany last time out.  Caleb Green, who had been in double-digits every game before this last one, was held to only 2 points and needs to contribute more if the Crusaders want to advance to the championship game.  Their opponent, Manhattan, also started the season 2-0 and defeated Harvard at home.  The Jaspers are -0-4 since then including a 13 point loss at Fordham last time out.  Calvin Crawford did have a double-double in the losing effort.

In the second semifinal, Towson is one of the teams we have been watching closely during the early season, entering the game at 6-1, with only an opening loss at Old Dominion.  Brian Starr was one of  three Tigers in double figures in scoring in their Gulf Coast Showcase championship victory over Georgia Southern.  La Salle enters today’s game at 4-3, but does have a huge home win over a very solid Temple team.  Pookie Powell scored 29 points while BJ Johnson added 25 in that victory.  This second semifinal has a chance to be a great game, and the winner of it should be favored to claim the title, which for Towson would already be their second championship this season!

 

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-PURDUE AT MARYLAND (Big Ten).  Purdue is coming off of a nice, feel good win against Louisville earlier in the week, but this is their first true road game.  It’s also their conference opener.  Both teams are probable tournament teams so it’s a resume building conference game.

-NORTH CAROLINA VS DAVIDSON (Charlotte).  Davidson has looked good at times, but not on the defensive end.  UNC clearly looks to be the superior team.  This is a semi-home game for Daivdson, but the crowd will be, at best, split, and at most pro-UNC.

-ILLINOIS AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten).  Illinois has beaten up on cupcakes, but not won any big games.  Northwestern has been somewhat disappointing so far, but beating a rival at home in a conference opener could give them some much needed momentum.

-BOISE STATE AT OREGON.  This is a really good game today between a Boise State team that only has one loss and that’s looked as good as anyone else in the Mountain West so far.  If they pick this one up on the road their profile will be resume pretty good.  Oregon has some work to do as well, so it’s a big game for both teams.

-CREIGHTON AT GONZAGA.  Two ranked teams going at it in a resume buliding game.  Both teams have some nice wins already and are looking to add to that.  It’s a real road test for Creighton, and it should be fun.

Grambling @ Georgia Tech – buy game

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Nov 30th

Posted on November 30, 2017 by David Griggs

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

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Cal Baptist at Hawai’i-Hilo

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Chad

Cal Baptist at Hawai’i-Hilo, 12:30 AM, hiloathletics.com

They are the TEAM OF THE PEOPLE!  They are OUR TEAM, YOUR TEAM, EVERYONE’s TEAM!!!  The Cal Baptists Lancers are on their quest to win the NCAA Division II title in their final season at the D2 level before beginning the four year transition up to Division I.  And after a fairly solid non-conference slate, with only a disappointing loss last time out to St. Martin’s as a mark against them, the Lancers are now ready to begin PacWest conference play, in pursuit of the conference title.

The CBU Lancers are taking a trip to Hawai’i this weekend, with a game at Hawai’i-Hilo tonight followed by a contest at Chaminade on Saturday.  CBU is now 6-1 on the season and being led on both ends of the court by Kalidou Diouf, who is averaging over 16 points and 7 rebounds per contest.  They will be favored to win tonight against the 1-4 Vulcans of Hawai’i-Hilo, but may have a tougher time on Saturday when they battle a Chaminade team that already has a very notable win over Cal in the Maui Invitational this year.  Both games should be fun ones, and really good tests for the People’s Team.  Just don’t forget to root them on — after all, they are YOUR TEAM!!!

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Under the Radar: November 29th

Posted on November 30, 2017 by David Griggs

This week’s highlighted conference is Conference USA.  We look at the great start that Western Kentucky is off to, along with Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech who have also looked really good so far.  We then run through all 22 UTR conferences and discuss how impressive Vermont has looked, Northern Iowa’s big wins down in the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Missouri Valley’s early dominance over the Mountain West, North Carolina A&T’s big turnaround from a year ago, and much more.  We close with this week’s UTR Top Ten.

 

And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…

 

Posted in Podcasts, Under the Radar, Videocasts | 1 Comment

Awards season: HoopsHD interviews Hall of Fame VP of Basketball Operations Greg Procino

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Jon Teitel

In an effort to promote the game of basketball and recognize the best players in the nation, the Basketball Hall of Fame created awards for the men’s All-America Team in 2015.  These awards covered 5 different positions and were named after 5 of the best players to ever step onto the court: the Bob Cousy Point Guard Of The Year, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Of The Year, the Julius Erving Small Forward Of The Year, the Karl Malone Power Forward Of The Year, and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Of The Year.  This year the Hall of Fame announced a partnership with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to present awards celebrating 5 of the best women to ever play the game: the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Of The Year, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Of The Year, the Cheryl Miller Small Forward Of The Year, the Katrina McClain Power Forward Of The Year, and the Lisa Leslie Center Of The Year.  The watch list for the women’s awards were announced earlier this month (see below for some of the favorites) and the winners will be revealed in April.  HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Greg Procino, the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Vice President of Basketball Operations, about these awesome awards.

Why did the Hall of Fame decide to create these awards? The Hall of Fame is an institution that recognizes the entire game of basketball at all levels around the world. We are active in the college space on both the men’s and women’s side, including our own awards program. Based on the success of the men’s program that was launched a few years ago we decided to expand the women’s program this year. We know there is an overload of awards on both sides but we wanted to spread the most awareness and provide ourselves with a little separation in terms of recognition. We have partnered with ESPN and the WBCA to create a platform at the Women’s Final 4, which will give us the best shot to be very relevant.

How did you identify which 5 Hall of Fame women would be participating? We wanted a diverse/inclusive representation to cover the growth of the women’s game over time and thought it was best to not focus on just 1 single generation. The idea was floated internally more than a year ago since we represent the entire game of basketball. Part of the creation was built off of the men’s version but it was more a result of representing the entire Hall of Fame. We did not consider any current players because eligibility for the Hall of Fame was 1 of our criteria.  We view this as a legacy opportunity for the 5 Hall of Famers who we did select and we wanted to highlight their accomplishments for a newer generation of basketball fans.  Nancy Lieberman (at ODU) and Annie Meyers Drysdale (at UCLA) were 2 of the pioneers of women’s basketball. They were visible players on different sides of the country and we felt they were most reflective of the game over time. Nancy’s award has been in existence for almost 2 decades and we thought they were both good choices at their respective positions, even though there were a lot of viable candidates.

How has the Hall’s coverage of the women’s game changed over time? The women’s game is still growing but we have always been an all-inclusive place. The more relevant the WNBA becomes with its own star players, the more that will ultimately spread to the Hall. However, we have always had an enshrinement voting committee for the women’s game.

How do the awards evolve during the course off the season?  The watch lists were released a few weeks ago and will be narrowed to 10 candidates and then again to 5 candidates in the months ahead. We expect everyone to be present to receive their awards during the Friday coverage at the Final 4 in Columbus, OH, and we will formally do the hand-off during the off-day that weekend. Players can play their way onto and off of the list so just because your favorite player is not on the 1st watch list does not mean that she will be excluded from winning the award in the spring. Year 1 for us will be foundational for us so that we can maximize the visibility of these awards well into the future.

Last season Washington’s Kelsey Plum won the Wade Trophy (as national player of the year) before becoming the 1st overall pick in the WNBA Draft by San Antonio Stars: how does the Wade Trophy fit into the equation with the 5 positional awards?  It will still be managed by the WBCA but the partnership means that ESPN will announce our award winners on Final 4 weekend. Based on the history of the men’s award my guess is that the Wade Trophy winner will also win a positional award, but the voting processes are 2 separate paths.

Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award (19th year)
Watch list includes: Kelsey Mitchell from Ohio State (8th player ever to be a 3-time preseason All-American), Lexie Brown from Duke (set ACC record by making 56 consecutive FTs), Morgan William from Mississippi State (made buzzer-beater to end UConn’s record streak in Final 4)

Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: Katie Lou Samuelson from UConn (set D-1 women’s record by making 10-10 threes in a win over South Florida), Victoria Vivians from Mississippi State (All-American)

Cheryl Miller Small Forward Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: Gabby Williams from UConn (2017 WBCA national DPOY), Shakayla Thomas from Florida State (ACC POY)

Katrina McClain Power Forward Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: Napheesa Collier from UConn (AAC preseason POY), Kristine Anigwe from California (All-American)

Lisa Leslie Center Award (inaugural year)
Watch list includes: A’ja Wilson from South Carolina (NCAA tourney MOP), Kalani Brown from Baylor (set school record with 67.9 FG%), Azura Stevens from UConn (sat out last year after transferring from Duke)

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Buffalo at Niagara

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Chad

For a rundown of all the rest of today’s action – CLICK HERE

Buffalo at Niagara, 7:00 PM Eastern, purpleeagles.com

It is time for a Western New York Big Four battle tonight as the Buffalo Bulls, from the Mid-American Conference, take on the Niagara Purple Eagles, out of the Metro Atlantic.  Niagara has a 56-32 all-time lead in the series between these two rivals, though Buffalo has won 7 of the last 10 contests.  Both teams are 1-0 against Big Four foes so far this season (Buffalo defeated Canisius while Niagara won at St. Bonventure) meaning that tonight’s winner will have a leg up towards capturing this year’s Big Four title.

Buffalo enters tonight’s game at 3-2 on the season, with both of those losses coming at the Cayman Islands Classic, to Cincinnati and South Dakota State.  The Bulls did get an overtime win over UAB in the event, as well as picking up a home win over Jacksonville State earlier this season.  Five players were in double players in scoring in the UAB win, something that may happen more often than not this year as the Bulls feature a tough, balanced scoring attack.  Niagara is currently 3-4 on the season, with the big win at St, Bonaventure to their credit.  Three of their four losses have come on the road, while their home loss was to a very good Texas-Arlington team.  Matt Scott had a huge game last time out in a win over Army, scoring 25 points to go with 10  rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block.  Tonight’s game should be a really good test for both teams as we get ready to turn the calendar page over to December.

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