Under the Radar Game of the Day: North Dakota at Weber State

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Chad

North Dakota at Weber State, 9:00 PM Eastern, watchbigsky.com

The Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah is the site of tonight’s first place showdown in the Big Sky as the hometown Weber State Wildcats welcome in the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota.  Entering play today, Weber State has a half game lead over North Dakota with the Wildcats sitting at 11-2  and the Hawks at 11-3 in conference play (both teams are 16-8 overall).  UND won the first matchup of these two teams, 83-77, back on January 19 in Grand Forks, ND.  North Dakota got 31 points from Geno Crandall in that win and 22 from Quinton Hooker.  The two of them have been leading the Fighting Hawks all season, and have a chance to not only move their team into first place tonight, but give them the tiebreaker edge over Weber with the season sweep of the Wildcats.

Weber State has only lost 2 games since December 10, the game at North Dakota and a game last week at Sacramento State.  Jeremy Senglin has been key for them during that stretch, including a very impressive 32 point effort last weekend at Portland State.  The Wildcats also hold the number one three-point shooting percentage in the entire nation, entering play tonight at 42.7%.  Their 49.5% overall field goal percentage is tops in the Big Sky and ninth in the entire nation.  If Senglin and his teammates can continue to rain it in from long range, they have a chance to open up a two game lead in the loss column tonight and move just a few wins away from locking up the top seed in the Big Sky tournament.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Princeton at Yale (and Other Highlighted Games)

Posted on February 17, 2017 by Chad

Princeton at Yale, 8:00 PM Eastern, espn3

For our latest Bracket Rundown video podcast, CLICK HERE.

Gonzaga.  Vermont.  Princeton.  Entering play tonight, only three Division I teams remain undefeated within their conferences.  The Zags have three games left before the WCC tournament, with the toughest test probably being a home game against BYU.  Vermont has two games left before the conference tournament, both of which are at home, though against the second and third best teams in the America East (Stony Brook and Albany).  Princeton’s road to finishing undefeated is the longest, with six regular season games left plus the Ivy League tournament.  The next four of those are all on the road, and probably the toughest of that group is tonight’s Under the Radar Game of the Day.  Tonight, the Tigers travel to New Haven, Connecticut to take on the Yale Bulldogs.

Princeton enters play today at 8-0 in the Ivy and 15-6 overall.  They Tigers’ win streak is now at 11 straight, one of the longest in the nation.  Steven Cook led the way last weekend in a two point home win over Columbia (a game that Princeton let the Lions charge back into late after building a big lead) with 19 points and 8 rebounds.  Myles Stevens was the star player with 19 points in the Tigers’ earlier home win over Yale.  Also, you can never overlook Spencer Weisz, who had scored 20+ points in 3 of his last 4 games before Columbia held him to a season low 4 last time out.

Yale currently sits at 14-7 overall and 6-2 in the Ivy League, tied with Harvard for second place.  The Bulldogs fell at home to Harvard last time out despite 20 points off the bench for Alex Copeland and a double-double from Sam Downey.  Copeland was also Yale’s leading scorer  in the first matchup with Princeton, scoring 21 points (as a starter in that game).  Yale certainly has the ability to knock off the Tigers tonight, and in fact are predicted by kenpom.com to win the game by 2.  If, however, Princeton is able to secure this win and a win tomorrow at Brown, they will have taken a huge step towards having that perfect conference season.

 

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KENT STATE AT AKRON (MAC).  There are a lot of good rivalries in the MAC, but this is probably the best one.  Akron’s chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament without winning the automatic bid are probably below fifty percent, but they are definitely above zero.  If they win out they’ll get a serious look, and may even get selected.

-VALPARAISO AT OAKLAND (Horizon League).  Valpo probably has even less of a chance of getting an at-large bid without the automatic bid than Akron does, but they do have a chance.  They’re also playing on the home court of one of the few teams that beat them tonight, so if they pick this one up it’ll be one of their better wins of the season on their resume.

-VCU AT RICHMOND (Atlantic Ten).  Richmond is too far outside the bubble to reach it, but they have done well in A10 play, and this is a rivalry game, so it should be fun.  VCU has a challenging stretch of games coming up that will either solidify them as a tournament team, or land them in the NIT.

-CALIFORNIA AT STANFORD (Pac Twelve).  This is a rivalry game between a Stanford team that’s struggled, but that has shown signs of life at home, and a Cal team that could really use a road win.

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Hoops HD Bracket Rundown: February 16th

Posted on February 16, 2017 by David Griggs

Chad is joined by the Hoops HD Staff as they reveal the bracket line by line.  All the members ranked their top fifty team, Chad then tallied up the results, so coming into the results he was the only one that knew what the bracket looked like.  Watch as they discuss, debate, and assess all the teams as they reveal the bracket.

Show was recorded on Thursday, February 16th at 9:15pm, est and the final rankings were turned in before 7pm, est.  None of the games that were played on Thursday were reflected, most notably Michigan’s win over Wisconsin

 

 

 

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

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

Posted on February 16, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between UTEP and North Texas, which I’m sure he had his reasons for picking – CLICK HERE

-Duke picked up what is probably their biggest win of the year (at least on paper) with the win at Virginia.  Virginia has now lost four out of six, but since it’s been against such strong competition they still appear to be safe for a protected seed.  Just not a #1 seed like I had previously thought.

-SMU was so excited about beating Cincinnati that they forgot to show up for the first half for their game against Tulane last night.  They trailed by 15 at the break.  They completely dominated the second half and ended up winning by 5, but that was a close call.

-Seton Hall picked up a home win over Creighton that they desperately needed.  They’re close to the bubble as it is, and are now 6-7 in league play, which is a lot more palatable than 5-8 even though it’s just a one game difference.  Creighton is still safe, but their slow backwards slide is continuing.

-Arkansas got a big win at South Carolina.  I have not been on the Razorbacks’s bandwagon at any point this season, but with the bubble being what it is and with them picking up such a big road win I can’t help but think that they’ve currently played their way inside the bubble.

-Maryland picked up a really nice road win against Northwestern.  Had Northwestern not picked up such a huge win at Wisconsin, we’d be talking about how they’re losing their grip and falling toward the bubble.  They’ve lost three out of their last four, and the one game they didn’t lose was by far the hardest game out of those four to win.  Their next two are at home against Rutgers and Indiana.  They need to win both of those, or to be more accurate they really need to avoid losing both of those.

-Xavier fell at Providence.  Xavier continues to hold serve, but do little else other than that.

-Oklahoma State picked up another nice road win at TCU, and the complexion of their profile continues to improve.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten).  Wiscy is coming off a rather surprising loss to Northwestern, but is still in great shape to finish atop the Big Ten and likely earn a protected seed.  This would be another nice road win.  As for Michigan, a win makes their place inside the bubble a little more safe.

-UNC WILMINGTON AT NORTHEASTERN (Colonial).  UNCW’s chances of landing inside the bubble and getting in if they lose in the conference tournament are bad at best, but they are not completely gone.  If they lose another game they probably will be, though.

-ARIZONA AT WASHINGTON STATE (Pac Twelve).  Arizona has just one conference loss and could end up as high as the #2 line.  They can add another road win to their profile tonight.

-UTAH AT OREGON (Pac Twelve).  Utah is outside the bubble and this is the win that could go a long way toward helping them land on the right side of it.  Oregon appears to be a solid protected seed and will land there if they hold serve.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  San Francisco is actually one of the better teams in the WCC this year, but they have little to no chance of knocking off Gonzaga at Gonzaga.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT WESTERN KENTUCKY (Conference USA).  Middle Tennessee still has a chance to make the NCAA Tournament without winning the automatic bid, but it’s only a chance, and they’ll have to win out and at least avoid a loss in the quarterfinals in order to even have a chance.

-LMU AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast).  Saint Mary’s should end up in the top half of the bracket and wearing white in the Round of 64 if they hold serve the rest of the way, which in their case basically means not losing to anyone other than Gonzaga.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: UTEP at North Texas

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Chad

UTEP at North Texas, 8:00 PM Eastern, BEIN Sports

For our latest Under the Radar video podcast, CLICK HERE.

Also check out Jon Teitel’s interview with Delta State legend Lusia Harris-Stewart, CLICK HERE.

The Under the Radar Game of the Day turns to Conference USA tonight, but not to focus on the conference leading Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.  Instead, tonight’s game focuses in on the amazing mid-season turnaround that we have seen from Tim Floyd’s UTEP Miners.  The Miners (9-15 overall, 7-5 in conference) won their second D1 game of the season, in the Charleston Classic against Western Michigan.  They then proceeded to lose their next 12 consecutive games, including suffering home losses to the likes of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.  That all changed when they broke the streak on January 12 with a double overtime win over Florida International.  The Miners have won 7 of their last 9 games since the losing streak, including a huge home upset win over Middle Tennessee two weeks ago.  Dominic Artis (yes, the same player who used to be at Oregon) came on strong with a 13 point, 7 rebound effort in the win over Middle and a 20 point, 10 assist effort last time out in a win over Southern Miss.  In fact, Artis has now had double-digit assists 5 times this season and has flirted with a triple-double several times.

North Texas enters tonight’s game at 7-17 overall and 1-10 in CUSA play.  The Mean Green picked up their first league win last week at Florida Atlantic behind 21 points and 9 rebounds from J-Mychal Reese.  With only 6 regular season games left, UNT needs to put together a winning streak if they want to avoid the bottom of the conference standings and take a shot at qualifying for the conference tournament (only the top 12 of 14 teams will play).  Tonight, they will attempt to slow down the red-hot Miners; however, with the amazing turnaround that UTEP has had, that simply may not be possible.

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Under the Radar: February 15th

Posted on February 15, 2017 by David Griggs

Chad and David feature the Southland this week.  It’s a three horse race between New Orleans, who is having their best season since rejoining the div1 ranks, and SFA and Sam Houston who are right on their heels.  They also discuss the issues that have leaked into the news regarding Larry Eustachy and share their thoughts on why they don’t feel it’s a big deal.  And as always they run through all 23 UTR leagues, reveal this week’s UTR Top Ten, and unveil the Survival Board for the first time this year.

 

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

Posted in News and Notes, Podcasts, Under the Radar, Videocasts | 2 Comments