News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Nov 16th

Posted on November 16, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For our latest Under the Radar Podcast – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Middle Tennessee and Belmont – CLICK HERE

-Creighton got a huge win at Northwestern yesterday.  Creighton always seems to beat a ranked team in November.  I believe they’ve done so ever since they joined the Big East.  So, here we are again with Creighton getting a big early season win.

-BYU also picked up a really nice road win at Princeton.  We weren’t all that big on the Cougars, but they’re off to a 2-0 start with a good road win, so we’ll be paying attention to them until they give us a reason not to.

-Other than that it was a rather chalky day, which is common when you have this level of buy games.  Bucknell put up a good showing against North Carolina, and UCLA had to sweat out their game against Central Arkansas, but other than that there were no real surprises.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-ILLINOIS STATE VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Puerto Rico Tipoff).  We weren’t expecting all that much out of South Carolina this year, but they’ve looked pretty good winning their first two games and could emerge onto the national scene if they do well in this tournament.

-AUBURN VS INDIANA STATE (Charleston Classic).  Indiana State already has a big win at Indiana.  If they pick up some more notable wins in this tournament then we will definitely start paying attention to them.  Auburn is…well…probably in for a long year.

-OLD DOMINION VS TEMPLE (Charleston Classic).  Old Dominion is off to a 2-0 start and can help out their profile by picking up some wins in this tournament.  We think Temple is a much improved team and we’ll learn something about them this week as well.

-BOISE STATE VS UTEP (Puerto Rico Tip-Off).  Both teams come in without a loss.  UTEP finished strong last year and it will be interesting to see if they can carry that momentum into this year.

-CLEMSON VS OHIO (Charleston Classic).  Picking up some early season wins away from home should help both teams.  Clemson will have a rough time in the ACC and would really benefit from making a case for themselves out of conference.  Ohio, like most UTR teams, has a small margin for error and this is a chance for them to pick up some notable wins.

-IOWA STATE VS APPALACHIAN STATE (Puetro Rico Tip Off0.  Appy State can improve to 3-0 with a win.  Iowa State has a solid program, but this year’s edition of it will struggle.  Their next win will be their first.

-NEBRASKA AT SAINT JOHN’S (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  This is the first real test for both teams.  We’ll learn something about both of them tonight.

-VIRGINIA TECH VS SAINT LOUIS (2K Classic, New York NY).  Both teams come in unbeaten, but also untested.  We like this Virginia Tech team and while we think Saint Louis is improved we still have a lot of uncertainties about them.  This is a chance for both teams to pick up a good early season win.

-HARVARD AT HOLY CROSS.  Both teams come in 2-0, and although they haven’t looked as dominant as we expected in their first two games we still think this Harvard team could end up inside the NCAA Tournament bubble.  If they’re truly  tournament caliber team, then this is the kind of road game that they are expected to be able to win.

-BELMONT AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE.  This is Chad’s UTR Game of the Day.  CLICK HERE TO READ HIS WRITE UP

-DAYTON VS HOFSTRA (Charleston Classic).  Both teams come in 1-0, and like all teams in these early season tournaments it’s a chance for them to emerge their relevance if they do well.

-MISSOURI AT UTAH.  Both teams come in 2-0 and both look to be much improved from last year.  Mizzou, who has been pitiful the last two years, can pick up a really nice early season road win and improve to 3-0, which will generate more momentum than what they’ve had in quite some time.

-XAVIER AT WISCONSIN (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Both teams have devoured a couple of cupcakes, but both appear to be really good.  This is the first real test for both teams and it’s a chance to pick up a really nice early season win.  A lot of people are down on Wiscy, but if they win this they’ll suddenly be nationally relevant and either in the rankings or close to it like what we’re used to seeing.

-PROVIDENCE VS WASHINGTON (2k Classic).  Providence lost a tough one earlier in the week, but doing well in the 2K Classic certainly gives them the chance to bounce back.

-SAMFORD AT LSU.  We highlight this to point out that we think LSU is awful and it wouldn’t surprise us at all if Samford, who is a likely SoCon frontrunner, goes in there and beats them.

-MARSHALL AT MOREHEAD STATE.  A win for Marshall gets them to 3-0.

-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT UMKC.  A win for Loyola gets them to 3-0.

 

BUY GAMES

-North Florida @ Florida
-FAMU @ Miami FL
-Coppin State @ Cincinnati
-Chicago State @ Notre Dame
-Southern Miss @ Michigan – both teams 1-0
-Texas Southern @ Ohio State
-Presbyterian @ NC State
-South Alabama @ La Salle – La Salle can improve to 3-0
-Oral Roberts @ Oklahoma State – this may not technically be a buy game.  I know Okie State has gone to Oral Roberts.  But, it looks like one.
-Grambling @ Iowa
-Cal State Bakersfield @ Arizona

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Belmont at Middle Tennessee

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Chad

Belmont at Middle Tennessee, 7:30 PM Eastern, Stadium Facebook page – Live

The Under the Radar Game of the Day once again features a battle between one of the top Ohio Valley Conference teams and Conference USA’s Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders tonight as this time they host the Belmont Bruins.  Middle Tennessee enters tonight’s game at 2-0, coming off a strong road win at Murray State on Monday night.  Nick King was a dominant force in that game, scoring 31 points.  Giddy Potts only scored 7 points, but led the team in rebounding, with 8, and steals, with 4.  If head coach Kermit Davis’ team can get similar numbers from their stars tonight, they could pick up another strong non-conference win.

Belmont enters tonight’s game at 1-1, having lost a close 4 point game at Washington before pulling off a huge home win over Vanderbilt on Monday night.  Dylan Windler scored 24 points and pulled down 11 boards in that game, while Amanze Egekeze added 22 points of his own.  Austin Luke added 6 assists, after having 7 in the loss at Washington.  The Bruins have established themselves, in just the first few days of the season, as one of the teams to beat in the OVC this year.  If they can pick up the huge road win tonight, against a team that has made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments (and won a game there each time), they will send a very strong message to the rest of their conference.

NOTE: Don’t forget to check out our latest Under the Radar video podcast, below!!!

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Under the Radar: Nov 15th

Posted on November 15, 2017 by David Griggs

Chad is joined by David, John, and Rocco as they run through all 22 UTR conferences.  The featured conference is the Metro Atlantic, and we look at the strong starts that Niagara, Monmouth, and Fairfield have gotten off to.  From there we discuss Florida Gulf Coast’s good start, Bucknell’s early struggles, Vermont’s close loss at Kentucky, the Big West’s and Missouri Valley’s strong starts, this week’s Top Ten, and much more!!  And as an added bonus, we have a live look in (on tape delay) at this year’s Team of the People, the Cal Baptist Lancers!!

 

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

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 15th

Posted on November 15, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Jacksonville State and Buffalo, which is another good one – CLICK HERE

-We will be recording our Under the Radar podcast tonight, so be sure and be on the lookout for that.

-The two showcase games lived up to the hype, at least in terms of excitement.  There were still some early November cobwebs to dust off, but all and all it was two great games to play early in the season.  Duke and Michigan State seesawed back and forth with Duke pulling out out in the end, and Kentucky hung right in with Kansas for the first 39-and-a-half minutes until the Jayhawks finally put it away.  When it comes to earning a #1 seed, having a neutral floor win over a team that’s also in the hunt for a #1 seed is a huge leg up, so even though it was just Day 5 of the season these are still games that can play a huge rule in shaping what the committee does in March.

-Purdue picked up a nice road win at Marquette and looked really impressive doing it.

-We weren’t really sure about George Washington coming into the year.  I believe we are now sure that they’re not as good as Florida State.  The Seminoles won easily at home.

-San Diego State was another team that we were kind of high on and that we felt had a chance of landing inside the bubble come March.  Of course it’s still early, but they didn’t just fail to pick up a notable road win against a decent at best Arizona State team, they got absolutely smoked.  Arizona State might be an NIT team (at least that’s what we think for now), and those are the kinds of games that NCAA Tournament caliber teams need to be able to win.  Not only did SDSU not win, they not won HUGE!

Georgia and UConn had some trouble in their buy games, but ended up getting it done.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-COLORADO CHRISTIAN AT CAL BAPTIST.  The Team of the People!!!  YOUR LANCERS!!!  They are nationally ranked!!  They are undefeated!!  They look to continue their march to greatness in their final year of div2 tonight!!!  CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GAME!!  Tip Off is at 10pm, est!!  We will be recording Under the Radar at the time, and we will have a live report!!

-INDIANA AT SETON HALL (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Indiana had a rather unspectacular season debut with their 30 point home loss to Indiana State.  If they play like that on the road tonight against a Seton Hall team that appears to be good enough to earn a protected seed they may lose by 60.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT PITTSBURGH.  We are highlighting this because of UCSB and not Pitt.  A win for UCSB, which is very possible, gets them to 2-0 on the year.

-MONTANA AT PENN STATE.  Both teams come in unbeaten.  Penn State could make some noise in the Big Ten this year, and Montana is one of the better teams in the Big Sky.

-BYU AT PRINCETON.  Princeton lost their opener, but they’re still a formidable team that can make some noise in the Ivy.  BYU is looking to stay unbeaten and pick up their first road win.

-JACKSONVILLE STATE AT BUFFALO.  This is Chad’s UTR Game of the Day.  Jax State blitzed Richmond on the road earlier this week.  A win tonight will give them what should turn out to be another decent road win and improve them to 3-0 on the year, which is a very good start.

-BUCKNELL AT NORTH CAROLINA.  It’s getting harder and harder to speak highly of this Bucknell team and portray them as top 40 team that we thought they were.  They’re 0-2, and while none of the losses are bad, if they’re a legit top 40 team they should have picked up at least one of them, or at least played a little better.  They have another chance to make a big impression tonight, but they’re probably swinging way over their heads in this one.

-NIAGARA AT MINNESOTA.  This is a buy game, but it’s worth watching since both teams come in without a loss.  Niagara had a nice road win at Saint Bonaventure in their first game, and Minnesota won at Providence in what was one of the more impressive wins of the entire year for any team so far.

-BUTLER AT MARYLAND (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Both teams come into this one unbeaten, but untested.  We should learn something about both of them tonight.

-CREIGHTON AT NORTHWESTERN (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Both teams come in unbeaten and untested.  Northwestern is in the rankings, but they’ve had to sweat more than you would expect during their first two games.  These re two likely tournament teams so this would be a really good early season win for whoever pulls it off.

-NEVADA AT SANTA CLARA.  Nevada had a nice win against Rhode Island the other night and is now trying to pick up their first true road win.

 

BUY GAMES

-Southern @ Missouri State
-American @ West Virginia
-Gardner Webb @ UCF
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ Georgetown
-UMES @ Saint Bonaventure – Bonnies looking for their first win
-Northwestern State @ SMU
-Ball State @ Oklahoma
-South Dakota @ TCU – both teams 2-0
-Seattle @ Washington State
-Cal State Fullerton @ Saint Mary’s
-Prairie View A&M @ UNLV
-Central Arkansas @ UCLA

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Jacksonville State at Buffalo

Posted on November 15, 2017 by Chad

Jacksonville State at Buffalo, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3

The Under the Radar Game of the Day shuffles off to Buffalo tonight as the hometown Bulls welcome in the defending Ohio Valley Conference tournament champions, Jacksonville State.  Buffalo enters tonight’s game at 1-0 following a win this past weekend over Western New York Big Four rival Canisius, 80-75.  Nick Perkins led the way with 26 points for the Bulls, while Jeremy Harris had 15 and Davonta Jordan came off the bench to score 16 and pull down 8 rebounds.  The Bulls are one of the favorites this season in a wide-open Mid-American Conference race, but need to be careful not to look past tonight’s game to their next contest, against Cincinnati in the opening round of the Cayman Islands Classic.

Ray Harper’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks did the same thing Ray Harper’s Western Kentucky teams seemed to always do last season, puling a few upsets and winning their conference tournament.  For Jax State, the OVC tourney win brought with it the school’s first-ever bid to the Big Dance.  And, at least so far this season, it appears that this team is eyeing a return trip.  The Gamecocks are 2-0 including an incredibly impressive blowout win on Monday afternoon at Richmond.  Four players scored in double-figures for the team, led by a double-double from Christian Cunningham.  If the Gamecocks can score another big road win tonight, they will establish themselves early as one of the key Under the Radar teams to keep an eye on throughout the season.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 14th

Posted on November 14, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

–CLICK HERE for today’s Hoops HD Report where we recap the first weekend and preview all of the upcoming exempt tournaments

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Loyola MD v Fairfield – CLICK HERE

-Minnesota picked up what is the biggest true road win of the season for any team (so far) with a really impressive showing against Providence.  Providence looks like a tournament team, and we believe they’ll be able to beat a lot of strong teams at home this year, so this one is going to look really nice on Minney’s NCAA Tournament resume.  It’s the caliber of win that we see out of protected seeds.

-Wichita State blew out College of Charleston.  I thought it was going to be a good game and it was…well…not.  CofC may not have the brand name that gets people excited, but we do believe they are a top 50 team, and potentially a fringe bubble team if they end up not winning their conference tournament.  So, it was a really impressive showing for the Shockers.

-We will get to this later in the week, but two UTR teams that looked really strong yesterday were Jacksonville State, who went into Richmond and completely blew the Spiders off their own floor, and Florida Gulf Coast, who has racked up two decisive wins against Illinois State and Siena.  Those may not be tournament teams, but they’re not chopped liver either, and to blow out Siena at Siena is rather impressive.

-Belmont pretty much led Vanderbilt for the entire game and picked up what was a feel good win against their crosstown foes at home.  Belmont lost just one game at home last year, and may not lose at home at all this year.  This loss may have bruised Vandy’s ego a little bit, but it won’t crush their season.  I applaud Bryce Drew and Vandy for playing the local teams.  They played (and lost) to Middle Tennessee early in the season last year, and it hardly resulted in their season being a wash.  The same is true for this season.  If they end up being a bust, it won’t be because of this game.  Most P5 schools don’t like to play games like this, but there really isn’t all that much to lose by doing it.  In fact more is gained than lost.  As for Belmont, they’ve beaten Vanderbilt and almost won at Washington.  They are once again a UTR team to keep an eye on.

-South Carolina won rather handily against Western Michigan.  That may not sound noteworthy, but Western Michigan appears to be pretty good this year whereas not many people were all that big on the Gamecocks.  The fact that they won so handily may indicate that Angry Frank and Co. are better than what we thought.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-DUKE VS MICHIGAN STATE (***Spotlight Game***) (Champions Classic, Chicago IL).  On just the fifth day of the season we have a match up between the top two teams!!  A neutral floor win against a highly ranked team looks really good on an NCAA Tournament resume.  It’s the caliber of win that a team needs if they want to land on the #1 line.

-KENTUCKY VS KANSAS. (***Spotlight Game***) (Champions Classic, Chicago IL).  On just the fifth day of the season we have a match up between two top five teams!!  A neutral floor win against a highly ranked team looks really good on an NCAA Tournament resume.  It’s the caliber of win that a team needs if they want to land on the #1 line.

-IONA AT SYRACUSE.  This is a buy game, but it’s interesting enough to put up here.  Syracuse is struggling, and while Iona has had better teams in the past, they’re not all that bad this year and are coming off a very close loss at Albany in their opener.  They may squeeze the Orange a little bit.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT FLORIDA STATE.  We don’t know a whole lot about either team yet, and today is a good test for both of them, as well as a chance to build up some early season momentum.

-UNC WILMINGTON AT DAVIDSON.  We like this Davidson team.  We think that they can have the kind of season that would impress the Selection Committee.  If they fail to win this game at home, we’ll realize that we were probably wrong!

-MONMOUTH AT LEHIGH.  Monmouth landing inside the bubble is a long shot, but this would be a nice road win for them, and that’s something that not many teams manage in the month of November.

-LIPSCOMB AT ALABAMA.  This is a buy game, but since both teams come in 1-0 and since Lipscomb is one of our favorites in the A-Sun we will go ahead and put it up here.

-DELAWARE AT BRADLEY.  Both teams are 1-0 and Delaware had a really nice win at Richmond to open the season (which quite honestly looks a lot less nice today, but still).

-PURDUE AT MARQUETTE (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  both teams come into this after winning a couple of buy games.  This would really be a nice road win for the Boilers if they’re able to pick it up.  It’s a really good test for a Marquette team that could also use a big early season win.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT ARIZONA STATE.  Both teams are 1-0.  We’ve talked a lot about the Mountain West’s inability to land a team inside the bubble the last two years, and how we think San Diego State could be on the committee’s radar again this year.  Plain and simple, these are the kinds of games they need to win.  It’s not easy to win road games like this, but it’s not easy to make the NCAAs either.

-DENVER AT COLORADO (Front Range).  WE LOVE THE FRONT RANGE!!!  Colorado is trying to improve to 2-0 on the season, and in Front Range play!!!

-WINTHROP AT COLORADO STATE.  I know it’s a buy game, but it should be an interesting one.  Colorado State is trying to improve to 2-0 against a Winthrop team that should be one of the better teams in the Big South

 

BUY GAMES

-Nicholls @ Villanova – both teams 1-0
-Central Connecticut @ Saint John’s
-Sacred Heart at Boston College
-Cleveland State @ Rutgers – a win can get Rutgers to 3-0
-Bryant @ NC State – NC State can get to 3-0
-High Point @ Tennessee – both teams 1-0
-SC Upstate @ Georgia
-Stony Brook @ UConn
-VMI @ Duquesne – Duquesne can get to 2-0
-Liberty @ Wake Forest – If Liberty wins this then they will have our attention
-UMKC @ Kansas State
-New Hampshire @ Texas – both teams 1-0
-Maine @ Texas Tech
-Alabama State @ South Dakota State – we like this SD State team, and a win (which is likely) gets them to 3-0
-Howard @ Gonzaga
-Omaha @ New Mexico
-Eastern Washington @ Stanford

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