Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES

-The Merit Rankings/Bracket Projections should be posted late this morning/early this afternoon.  We will also be recording this week’s Hoops HD Report this evening.

-Northwestern followed up their struggle in two buy games and home loss to Creighton with a blowout loss to Texas Tech.  Texas Tech is probably better than we thought, but Northwestern is also playing a lot worse than we thought they were.

-Since blowing out Indiana on the road in their season opener, the Trees have lost three straight.  They fell to Ohio in what is the season’s first quadruple overtime game yesterday.

-Tulane is out to a 4-0 start and can continue to build momentum and move closer and closer to relevance if they keep it up.  I completely understand that 4-0 is not 14-0, but it’s still a much better than expected start for the Green Wave.

-Vermont came from behind to beat Northern Kentucky and pick up a nice win away from home for their profile, while at the same time denying NKU what would have been a nice win on their profile.  It was an exciting and well played game that almost no one saw.  The arena was empty (to be fair, the game was in the Bahamas), and I don’t think too many people outside of myself purchased the stream.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-LOUISIANA VS IOWA (Cayman Islands Classic).  Iowa can improve to 4-0 with a win today and land on the winning side of the bracket which should provide them with the opportunity to face quality teams and potentially pick up quality wins.

-MISSOURI STATE VS GEORGIA SOUTHERN.  Georgia Southern is off to a 3-0 start with a notable (at least for now) win at Wake Forest.  Missouri State has dropped a game, but we still like their team and they can emerge as a contender for the NCAAs if they do well in this tournament.

-MARQUETTE VS VCU (Maui Invitational).  This would be a nice early season win for either team, which is something that they may really need later on.  Neither team has done much other than win against cupcakes so far.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE VS WYOMING (Cayman Islands Classic).  We like both these teams, but also realize they’ll face limited opportunities.  Today’s game is hugely important because it gives them a nice neutral floor wins and puts them on the winner’s side of the bracket where the competition will (in theory) be stronger.

-WICHITA STATE VS CALIFORNIA (Maui Invitational).  This game could get exceptionally ugly.  Wichita is a top ten team and Cal will struggle to finish in the top half of div1.

-EASTERN WASHINGTON VS GEORGIA STATE (MGM Resorts Main Event).  This is a fairly decent UTR game with both teams looking fairly good in their games so far.

-UAB VS RICHMOND (Cayman Islands Classic).  UAB comes in 3-0, but will have limited chances at statement wins.  If they want any shot at all at landing inside the bubble then they need to do well in this tournament.

-FURMAN AT DUKE.  It’s a buy game, and it could be ugly, but Furman is one of the better teams in the SoCon (or so we think), so we’ll go ahead and highlight it.

-TEXAS A&M VS OKLAHOMA STATE (Legends Classic).  Both teams come into this undefeated, but TAMU has all the signs of clearly being the superior team.  We’re thinking it could be a long year for the Pokes, but if they win this game then they will have proved us long (at least for now).

UCLA VS CREIGHTON (Hall of Fame Classic).  Both teams come in unbeaten, including Creighton’s big win at Northwestern.  UCLA had a nice win against Georgia Tech as well despite the soap opera that is surrounding their team.  This is simply a good early season test.

-OAKLAND AT SYRACUSE.  Oakland is coming off a really surprising and potentially very damaging loss to Toledo.  This is a road game that we’ve kind of had circled as a chance to impress the selection committee with a high quality road win.  That’s still the case, but they’ll certainly have to do better than they did the other night.

-SIENA AT BUCKNELL.  Neither team has won a game yet.  Having said that, this may be the best game between two winless teams after the first week of the season that I can ever recall.

-CINCINNATI VS BUFFALO (Cayman Island Classic).  Cincinnati looks to be the strongest team in this tournament.  They open against a Buffalo team who has won their first two games, but they haven’t played a team quite like the Bearcats yet.

-NOTRE DAME VS CHAMINADE (nondiv1) (Maui Invitational).  Notre Dame is one of the stronger teams in the field along with Wichita State.

-BAYLOR VS WISCONSIN (Hall of Fame Classic).  I think both of these teams are better than their current rankings.  This is a good chance for each of them to pick up what I think will turn out to be a really good win.

-PENN STATE VS PITTSBURGH (Legends Classic).  Penn State shouldn’t have any trouble winning this and staying unbeaten.  Saying that makes me think we are now in Bizarro World.

-UTAH STATE AT PORTLAND STATE.  We’ll highlight this because Portland State has the chance to face a non UTR team at home, and if they win it they’ll improve to 4-0 on the year.

-RICE AT UNLV.  A win for UNLV, gets them to 4-0.  Not sure exactly how good they are yet, but they look to be much improved.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT STANFORD.  Stanford underwent a somewhat surprising loss to Eastern Washington recently, but they can completely rebound from that and then some if they’re able to knock off North Carolina at home.  This won’t be a walk in the park for UNC.  To their credit, they oftentimes play a big game away from home early in the season, but they also always seem to have trouble winning it and oftentimes don’t.  I still think that it’s a good type of game to play because of how it prepares them later on for what they face on the road, but don’t be surprised if they struggle in this one.

-MICHIGAN VS LSU (Maui Invitational).  Both teams are unbeaten.  I wasn’t expecting much out of LSU this year, but they beat what I thought was a pretty good Samford team rather handily and could be better than I thought.

-OLE MISS VS UTAH (MGM Resorts Main Event).  Both teams come in unbeaten, and Utah already has a rather impressive and decisive win over Missouri.  It’s a chance for both of them to pick up an early season win away from home that could (and likely will) help their resume.

BUY GAMES

-Molloy (nondiv1) @ Saint John’s
-Long Beach State @ West Virginia
-Jackson State @ Maryland
-UMES @ Saint Bonaventure
-Troy @ Kentucky
-Emporia State (nondiv1) @ Missouri
-Green Bay @ Mississippi State
-Northern Arizona @ Kansas State
-Hampton @ Xavier
-Omaha @ TCU
-Pine Bluff @ Air Force – AFA can improve to 3-0
-Eastern Illinois @ San Diego State

NEWS AND NOTES

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Belmont and Northern Kentucky, which once again may be the overall game of the day – CLICK HERE

-It was a very chalky day, but there was one rather big surprise, and that was Oakland’s loss at Toledo.  We really like this Oakland team and feel that they were a top 40/at large caliber team.  At the same time we didn’t think much at all of Toledo, but the Rockets are off to a 3-0 start with wins over Saint Joseph’s and now Oakland.

-Bucknell is 0-4.  They’ve played really well in their last two games at North Carolina and at Maryland (where they lost by just 2pts after leading most of the game), and may be one of the best 0-4 teams in history.  Unfortunately, they needed to get a couple of these wins on their profile to be looked at as a top forty team, and it just hasn’t happened so far.

-UT Arlington went into BYU, who seemed to have a lot of momentum built up, and absolutely blew them off the court.  A real nice win for a still unbeaten UTA team.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NIAGARA AT UMASS.  Niagara has a nice road win at Saint Bonaventure already, and has what is potentially another winnable road game today.

-MONMOUTH AT VIRGINIA.  Monmouth is off to a pretty good start with their only loss coming at Seton Hall.  They may be swinging over their heads today, but if they were to somehow pick up this win then we’d have to once again start thinking of them as a potential tournament team.

-HOLY CROSS AT RHODE ISLAND.  Rhody will be withought Hassan Martin, and holding serve against a Holy Cross team that’s currently unbeaten may not be the easiest task in the world.

-SOUTH CAROLINA VS WESTERN MICHIGAN (Puerto Rico Tipoff).  Winning another early season game away from home would be helpful for South Carolina.

-HOUSTON VS WAKE FOREST (Paradise Jam).  Both teams could really use some early season momentum, and a win away from home wouldn’t be the worst thing either.

-LA SALLE VS BOSTON COLLEGE (Hall of Fame Tipoff).  Whoever comes out of this game with a win will be off to a fairly decent start.  It would at least be a much better start than what we’re used to seeing out of either of these teams.

-OLD DOMINION VS DAYTON (Charleston Classic).  Both teams could really use this win.

-COLORADO STATE VS FLORIDA STATE (Jamaica Classic).  Florida State is off to a 2-0 start and could pick up some nice wins away from home in this tournament.

-TEXAS TECH VS NORTHWESTERN.  Texas Tech comes in unbeaten after picking up a halfway decent win against Boston College.  Northwestern has stumbled a little bit early on, but they can certainly help out their profile by picking up a second win away from home in a two day stretch.

-AUBURN VS HOFSTRA (Charleston Classic).  Both these teams have looked good early on (at least at times) and now have the chance to leave this tournament with two wins away from home.

-TULANE VS FORDHAM (Jamaica Classic).  Tulane can improve to a rather surprising 4-0 with a win.

-BOISE STATE VS IOWA STATE (Puerto Rico Tipoff).  Boise State is off to a surprisingly good start and have been every bit as impressive as anyone else from the Mountain West so far.  They can continue to build on that with a win today against an Iowa State team that has a massive rebuilding project ahead of them.

-USC AT VANDERBILT.  A really good early season road test for a USC team that is currently ranked in the top ten.

-SAINT MARY’S AT SAN JOSE STATE.  It’s a road game, but it may still end up looking like an upside down buy game once SMC is done with San Jose.

-NORTHERN KENTUCKY VS VERMONT (Island of the Bahamas Showcase).  UTR Game of the Day.  Click here

-MERCER VS COLORADO (Paradise Jam).  Both teams have played really well so far with just one loss between them, and they can continue to build momentum. and add wins away home to their profile.

-TEMPLE VS CLEMSON (Charleston Classic).  Both teams come in unbeaten and are looking to add early season wins away from home to their profiles.

BUY GAMES

-Coppin State @ Rutgers – win gets Rutgers to 4-0
-TAMUCC @ Georgia
-Bethune Cookman @ Georgia Tech
-North Dakota @ Nebraska
-Northeastern @ Ohio State
-UC Irvine @ Arizona State
-Seattle @ Belmont – Belmont can improve to 4-1 on the year
-Stony Brook @ Michigan State
-Western Carolina @ Minnesota
-Marshall @ Illinois – Illinois can improve to 4-0
-New Hampshire @ Florida
-South Florida @ Indiana
-Boston U @ UConn
-Ball State @ Oregon

NEWS AND NOTES

-Boise State is looking impressive out of the gate.  They blasted Illinois State today in the Puerto Rico Tipoff and have advanced to the championship game.  We weren’t all that big on them coming into the season, but one week in I’d say they look like the most impressive Mountain West team so far. (emphasis on SO FAR).

-Tulane remains unbeaten after blasting Colorado State.  By no means am I ready to declare them to be a great team, but they’ve shown more signs of life this first week than they have since I can remember.

-Virginia picked up a nice road win at VCU and were particularly impressive in how they closed out the game.  It’s the kind of early season win that should help them both on and off paper.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TEXAS TECH VS BOSTON COLLEGE (Naismith Hall of Fame Tipoff).  When you want to tip off the hall of fame, then by all means get BC and Texas Tech on the phone!!  Both teams come in unbeaten, and BC may actually have something this year.  At the very least they appear to be much improved.

-HARVARD AT MANHATTAN.  Harvard has a thin margin for error and simply cannot afford to lose too many more games to sub-NIT caliber teams.  Manhattan, to be fair, is 1-0 on the season.

-FURMAN AT BUTLER.  It’s a buy game, but we think Furman will be near the top of the SoCon standings and the come into this game having won their first two.

-LA SALLE VS NORTHWESTERN (Hall of Fame Tipoff).  Northwestern has struggled in all three of their games this year and is actually coming off a loss to Creighton.  La Salle’s expectations weren’t all that high (at least not by us), but they do come into this with three wins.  They can make a splash on the national scene if they pull this out today.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT TENNESSEE STATE.  Middle is coming off a home loss to crosstown rival Belmont, but they could still end up having a big year and have a chance to pick up their second true road win today.

-LIBPSCOMB AT TEXAS.  I know this is a buy game, and Lipscomb not being at full strength yet makes it even more of a buy game, but it is a good Lipscomb team that will be near the top of the ASun taking on a Texas team that’s in bounce back mode.

-FAIRFIELD AT PURDUE.  It’s a buy game, but both teams are unbeaten and Fairfield is expected to be near the top of the MAAC, so we’ll highlight it.

-OAKLAND AT TOLEDO.  Oakland comes in 2-0 and is an UTR team that could turn out to be a fringe bubble team.  That means being able to win games like this on the road.  Toledo is 2-0, but if Oakland really is a top forty caliber team then this is the kind of game they need to be able to win.

-CHARLESTON AT CHARLOTTE.  Charleston was blasted by Wichita State, and didn’t really look that good in their opener either, but they still have a high ceiling of potential.  Having said that, they need to come into this game with a sense of urgency, even if it is November.

-BUCKNELL AT MARYLAND.  Bucknell had some chances to really start to build a solid profile early.  So far they’ve come up short.  None of their losses are bad, but if they want any hope of being on or inside the bubble then they need to be able to win a couple of games like this one.

-UT ARLINGTON AT BYU.  UTA is a likely Sun Belt frontrunner, and BYU is coming off a rather nice win at Princeton.  Both come into this unbeaten.

-UTAH STATE AT GONZAGA.  This is Gonzaga’s biggest test so far, and it probably won’t be much of a test.

-NEVADA AT PACIFIC.  Nevada is 3-0 on the year and is looking to pick up their second true road win.

-LONG BEACH STATE AT OREGON STATE.  Oregon State came up way short in a rather unimpressive showing against Wyoming a little while ago, but as the season goes on they should improve.  We weren’t expecting all that much out of Long Beach, but they come into this 2-0 and if they can win this one they’ll have a fair amount of early momentum going for them.

BUY GAMES

-UMES @ Georgetown
-William & Mary @ UCF
-NJIT @ Seton Hall
-FAMU @ Mississippi State
-Binghamton @ Evansville – Evansville can improve to 4-0
-Jackson State @ Saint Bonaventure – Bonnies still looking for their first win
-Idaho State @ Washington State
-Houston Baptist @ Belmont
-Texas Southern @ Syracuse
-Morgan State @ West Virginia
-Pine Bluff @ SMU