Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-Some of the top UTR teams yesterday that had shots at big time opponents ended up getting big time beaten. Austin Peay was never in the game at Tennessee and lost 103-68. Tennessee is really good, and while I didn’t think the Govs would win, I didn’t think they’d get blown out as badly as they did.

-Troy was also blown off the floor by Oregon 82-61. This one did surprise me. It would have been a tough game for Troy to win, but I was surprised they were beaten so handily. Just the other night Troy had hung in pretty tough with Arkansas. The Razorbacks really didn’t pull away until the end of the game. So, maybe we need to keep an eye on the Ducks.

-Saint John’s picked up a nice 85-71 home win against a New Mexico team that came into the game looking pretty good. It’s probably one of the more impressive wins we’ve seen out of the Johnnies in a while.

-Saint Mary’s barely held off Nebraska in their 77-74 win out at the Pentagon. Saint Mary’s remains unbeaten and still may be finding themselves a little bit, and Nebraska may be better than what many of us were giving them credit for.

-Boise State pulled away from Clemson in the 2nd half for an 84-71 win. It was a nice win for the Broncos despite them being at home, and it was one that they kind of needed since all they had prior to this was home buy wins.

-Mississippi State, who is one of many SEC teams we are big on this year, held off Utah 78-73 for what is probably their nicest win of the season so far. The Bulldogs trailed by double-digits at the half, but had a great second half for the comeback win.

-Liberty blew Charleston off of Charleston’s own floor 68-47. This was the last game of an event that had simply been awesome to watch. Well, all the games were awesome until this one, I guess.

.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-NORTH TEXAS AT MCNEESE. McNeese is basically out of strikes if they want to land inside the bubble. Their next D1 win will be their first, and while North Texas is a tough opponent who comes in unbeaten and has already won a road game, it’s the kind of game McNeese should be able to win at home if they believe themselves to be a legit top 40 team.

-NORTHERN COLORADO AT WASHINGTON STATE. This is a pretty good Northern Colorado team who’s only loss so far was a very close game against Colorado. Wazzu comes in at 3-1 and will need to be on a bit of an upset alert tonight.

-GONZAGA AT SAN DIEGO STATE. This will be a very tough road test for Gonzaga, and they’ll be playing in front of what I think is one of the most rabid and most awesome student sections in the country. But the Zags are REALLY good, and they are up for a tough road test. San Diego State comes in at 2-0, but this is hands down their biggest test of the season so far, and may be one of their biggest tests of the season all year.

-Miami OH @ Michigan – Michigan had a nice win against TCU their last time out and should blow through this one
-Colgate @ NC State
-American @ High Point – High Point can improve to 4-0
-NJIT @ George Washington – GW can get to 4-0
-VMI @ Pittsburgh
-Mississippi College (nonD1) @ Lousiana Tech – LA Tech is unbeten
-Monmouth @ Wichita State
-IU Indy @ Iowa State
-Pacific @ Arkansas
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Texas Tech
-UTRGV @ Wisconsin
-Prairie View @ SMU
-North Alabama @ Auburn
-Montana @ Utah State

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Xavier looked like they were asleep during stretches of their first three buy games, but they were wide awake yesterday as they beat Wake Forest rather handily 75-60, and looked good doing it.

-Notre Dame went on the road and blew Georgetown out of the gym 84-63. I know it’s Georgetown, and that the Hoyas have been awful the last several years, but they appeared to be getting better (and still might be) so it was still a bit of a statement for the Irish to win so dominantly in a true road game.

-East Carolina remains unbeaten after their double OT 78-77 win against George Mason. I don’t expect to see them inside or near the bubble come March, but as for now they are off to a good start.

-Hofstra is now 4-0 with wins against Seton Hall and UMass on thier resume as they knocked off the Minutemen 75-71 on the road yesterday. They are starting to establish themselves as a top level Under the Radar team. Their next two are at Florida State and at Houston, and if they can get just one of those you have to consider that they’re putting quite a few early notable wins on their resume.

-Last, but not least, Columbia is off to a 5-0 start, which I believe makes them the first team to get to 5 wins on the year. They have a long stretch of winnable games ahead of them and have been one of the more exciting stories so far this season.

.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-NEW MEXICO AT SAINT JOHN’S. You could say this one is a family affair!! (Okay, bad joke). This is the first test for Saint John’s, whereas New Mexico already has a nice win at UCLA. If the Lobos can go across the country and pick up a second true road win against a ranked team then their tournament resume will already have a very solid foundation. (Fact Check: New Mexico beat UCLA on a neutral court in Henderson, Nevada. Today would be considered their first true road win of the season.)

-SAINT MARY’S VS NEBRASKA (Sioux Falls, ND). Both teams are unbeaten and untested. Saint Mary’s has probably faced tougher teams than Nebraska in their home buy games, but they were still home buy games. Both have potential and we should learn something about them today.

-CLEMSON AT BOISE STATE. This is the first real test for Clemson who has won three buy games coming into this one, and a chance for Boise (who has a loss at San Francisco) to pick up their first win of note. We feel that both teams could be NCAA Tournament teams, and this is a chance for each of them to pick up their first non-home-buy-game win of the season.

-AUSTIN PEAY AT TENNESSEE. This is a buy game, but it also has a little intrigue considering both teams are unbeaten and Austin Peay already has a road win at Butler. Tennessee is much better than Butler, so this is a real long shot for the Govs, but they’re still a good team and it will be interesting to see what they can do against a team like Tennessee.

-UTAH AT MISSISSIPPI STATE. Both teams are coming into this one at 3-0, but this is the first game for each team that isn’t a home buy game, so we should learn something about both of them today.

-LIBERTY AT CHARLESTON (Field of 68 Tip-Off). All the games in this event have been incredible so far. Charleston is coming off a dramatic double OT win against Florida Atlantic and Liberty is coming off a mere single OT loss against that same FAU team. While these games have been on Charleston’s home court, getting off to a 4-0 start would be great for the Cougars. (Also the UTR Game of the Day)

-TROY AT OREGON. I think Troy is really good. They are coming off a loss at Arkansas, but they were in that game for a fair amount of the way, and while facing the Ducks is a very tough road test, it does feel more winnable than their game at Arkansas was, and if they can get a win in a game like this it will get the attention of the selection committee. Oregon comes in at 3-0, but has only played in home buy games and actually needed overtime to get by Portland in their last one, so this is hardly a cakewalk for the Ducks.

-CALIFORNIA AT USC. It’s a vintage Pac 12 game!! It’s a classic ACC/Big Ten Challenge game!! USC is unbeaten, but also untested, and one might argue that after today they’ll still be untested. Not much is expected from Cal this year.

BUY GAMES (and other notable games):

-Princeton @ Merrimack – Princeton needs to bounce back from their loss to Loyola Chicago and pick up their 2nd road win
-Coppin State @ Miami FL
-Harvard @ Colorado
-UC Davis @ Stanford
-UC Santa Barbara @ San Jose State – UCSB can remain unbeaten and pick up their 2nd true road win
-Tarleton State @ Baylor
-Saint Thomas @ Arizona State
-UMass Lowell @ Washington