Hoops HD Bracket Rundown: January 12th

Posted on January 12, 2017 by David Griggs

Chad is joined by the entire Hoops HD panel as they build a seed list line by line based on what all the teams have done up to this point.  Check out all of the discussions and debate as they run through all of the teams, and take a look at the finished bracket below.

Recorded on Thursday, January 12th, at 9:30pm, est.  The show does not reflect any of the results after that

 

 

FINAL BRACKET

 

Posted in Bracketology, Commentary, Podcasts, Videocasts | 1 Comment

Throwback Thursday: The 2006 Atlantic 10 Tournament

Posted on January 12, 2017 by John Stalica

For David Griggs’ daily News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE.

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Grand Canyon and New Mexico State – CLICK HERE.

For Jon Teitel’s interview with Hall of Fame Coach Jim Foster – CLICK HERE.

For the latest weekly Under-The-Radar Podcast, CLICK HERE.

2006 was a bit of a watershed year for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. This would be the 20th season of the conference (originally started out as the Eastern 8), and the conference tournament would be held at USBank Arena in downtown Cincinnati. Charlotte and Saint Louis were newcomers to the Atlantic 10 for this season, and as expected the 49ers were a serious contender for the league crown.

However, this season saw GW run the table with a perfect 16-0 record in conference play. They would get the top seed only a year after winning the 2005 A-10 Championship (also played at USBank Arena). Temple had a much quieter outing than the previous season – in 2005, John Chaney suspended himself for the remainder of the season after he had sent in Nehemiah Ingram as a “goon” to send a message to Saint Joseph’s player John Bryant in a late season Temple-Saint Joe’s matchup at the Liacouras Center. Feeling that Bryant and other SJU players were getting away with illegal screens in that game, Ingram committed a hard foul late in the game that caused Bryant to break his arm and prematurely end his season.

9th-seeded Temple would defeat Rhode Island 74-45 in a nondescript opener, and Saint Joe’s would beat Dayton 67-55 in the next game. Dayton was the last team to qualify for the tournament; they finished ahead of Duquesne and St. Bonaventure in the conference standings.

In the nighttime doubleheader, 10th-seeded Xavier avenged their season-ending loss at UMass with a 75-66 win over the Minutemen. Noteworthy here is that this was the first win for Xavier after senior PG Dedrick Finn was dismissed from the team by head coach Sean Miller. A few hearty souls stayed around to watch 6th-seeded Fordham defeat Richmond 45-37 in the last of the opening-round games.

The 4 teams that ended up getting byes into the quarterfinals were the aforementioned GW Colonials along with the #2 Charlotte 49ers, #3 LaSalle Explorers and #4 Saint Louis Billikens. Remarkably, neither of the 4 teams would advance to the semifinals. Temple beat GW 68-53 with relative ease, and Saint Joe’s upended SLU 56-37 in the 2nd game of the afternoon doubleheader. A partisan Xavier crowd watched the Musketeers defeat Charlotte 59-55 in the first night game – this doomed whatever at-large hopes the 49ers had and relegated them to the NIT. Another remarkable result was Fordham beating La Salle 64-62 in the nightcap; this was the first time the Rams made it to the A-10 semifinal round in what was then their 12th season in the conference.

The semifinal round began with a weird delay – a bird managed to fly into a ceiling fan at USBank Arena and was killed on contact. The Saint Joe’s-Temple game was delayed for 15 minutes after the floor was cleared and the fan was cleaned up. This time, the Hawks would beat Temple 73-59 to avenge the injury to Bryant from a season earlier. Xavier would avenge their earlier loss to Fordham in the season with a 70-59 victory. This would be the 3rd straight season that Xavier and Saint Joe’s would play each other in the Atlantic 10 Tournament – the Hawks won in 2005, but Xavier blasted the Hawks in 2004 to put an abrupt end to what was a perfect regular season for the Hawks.

The championship game was a very close one, and a blocked shot on the game’s final play preserved a 62-61 win for Xavier – this was their 3rd and final Atlantic 10 title. As for the NCAA Tournament, Xavier got the auto bid and a #14 seed in the West (Oakland) region, but lost to Gonzaga in a game where the Muskies had a serious opportunity for a historic upset. GW would end up as a #8 seed in the South (Atlanta) region – they beat UNC-Wilmington in overtime in the first round before falling to Duke in front of a partisan crowd in Greensboro. Saint Joe’s, Temple and Charlotte would all play in the NIT – the Hawks advanced the furthest with a Round of 16 appearance before losing to Hofstra.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Jan 12th

Posted on January 12, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast, which you should absolutely watch because it is just that amazing – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Grand Canyon and a New Mexico State team who has a shot at entering the NCAA Tournament with just two losses – CLICK HERE

-Last night gave us yet another match-up between two top fifteen teams!  It was the fourth in just 24 hours!  And, like the other three, it was a complete dud.  Butler actually went on a run in the final ninety seconds to make it look far less like a blowout than what it actually was, but in actuality, Creighton absolutely blew them out.  Another impressive home win for the Blue Jays and another case where Butler struggled in a true road game.

-Michigan State finally looked like the team we were expecting to see since November, and for that matter, so did Minnesota.  A really nice win for the Spartans that probably means as much to their mental health as it does their resume.

-Dayton is a team that went into last night in pretty good shape just so long as they didn’t stub their toes.  Last night, they really stubbed their toes.  They lost to UMass in a game where they trailed most of the way and really didn’t show any urgency or fire.  The A10 may get their first place team inside the bubble if that team is Dayton or VCU, but everyone else will likely need the auto-bid.

-Seton Hall lost an overtime thriller at Marquette, but is still in relatively good shape.  It was a nice win for a Marquette team that desperately needed one.

-TCU won at Texas.  So, they passed the litmus test of being able to win a road game that an NCAA Tournament caliber team is expected to win.  I’m still not as big on them as the rest of the Hoops HD staff, but I am sitting up and taking a little bit more notice.

-A nice win for Iowa State last night at Oklahoma State.  Oklahoma State is now 0-4 in Big Twelve play.  This has to be a shock to the system of Brad Underwood, who came from Stephen F Austin and isn’t really used to this whole idea of not winning conference games.

-Michigan, you can go home now.  We’ll call you again at the start of next season.

-NC State, you can go home now.  We’ll call you again at the start of next season.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-OHIO STATE AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Wisconsin is flirting with a protected seed and Ohio State is flirting with the NIT.  Wisky should get this one at home.  If Ohio State wants to get their season and profile turned around, it will take a win in a game like this to do it.

-CLEMSON AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC).  Clemson is coming off of two straight frustrating losses and could use a win on the road to help stabilize things.

-NOTRE DAME AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  Miami is at home so you can never completely write them off, but so far this season Notre Dame has looked really good and Miami has been rather disappointing.  This is a winnable conference road game for the Irish.

-WILLIAM & MARY AT UNC WILMINGTON (Colonial).  If UNCW runs the table in the regular season, which they are definitely good enough to do, I think they’re in the NCAAs with or without the automatic bid.

-MARSHALL AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE (Conference USA).  Marshall is one of the better teams in CUSA, but they’re not as strong as Middle, and they are the road team in this one.  Middle Tennessee has a clear run to an NCAA Tournament bid if they run the table in the regular season.

-PURDUE AT IOWA (Big Ten).  Purdue is flirting with a protected seed and this is a winnable conference road game for them.

-NORTHWESTERN AT RUTGERS (Big Ten).  Northwestern’s profile is rather healthy and it’s important that they hold serve and take care of business in what is a winnable conference road game.

-WASHINGTON AT CALIFORNIA (Pac Twelve).  Cal has a lot of ground to make up just to get themselves into the bubble discussion.  They certainly can’t afford to lose a game like this.

-USC AT UTAH (Pac Twelve).  Utah has a pretty good record and although they’re not looking like a solid tournament team yet, they are certainly in a position to play their way in with a strong showing in conference.  It will be interesting to see what they do against a pretty good USC team tonight.

-ARIZONA STATE AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve).  Arizona is looking more and more like a great team and shouldn’t have too much trouble against their cross-state rivals.

-LMU AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  the Zags are the class of the league and have a legitimate chance of entering the NCAA Tournament without a loss.

-SMU AT CINCINNATI (American).  If we were to pick a featured game of the day I suppose this would be it.  It’s two good teams who are looking to build their resumes, but have limited opportunities outside of when they play each other.

-UCLA AT COLORADO (Pac Twelve).  UCLA has been one of the biggest surprises of the seasons, and Colorado has been one of the biggest disappointments so far.  I think UCLA can end up on the #1 line and expect them to take care of business tonight.

-SAINT MARY’S AT PORTLAND (West Coast).  Saint Mary’s, like Gonzaga, should run away from the rest of the league and end up with a very healthy overall profile.

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | 1 Comment

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Grand Canyon at New Mexico State

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Chad

Grand Canyon at New Mexico State, 9:00 PM Eastern, AGGIE VISION/Altitude2/espn3

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

This year’s Team of the People, the New Hampshire Wildcats, were featured in last night’s Under the Radar Game of the Day and picked up a solid road win at Albany.  Tonight, we step back in time to last season, and return to our beloved Grand Canyon Antelopes as they face their toughest conference challenge of the season, a road trip to Las Cruces to take on the New Mexico State Aggies.  The Lopes enter play tonight at 10-6 overall and 1-0 in WAC play.  They have already suffered a couple of disappointing losses this season, at home to SIU Edwardsville and on the road at UC-Riverside.  Josh Braun, one of their top players entering the season, went down with an injury in the SIUE loss and proceeded to miss the next 9 games.  The good news is those games saw the emergence of Dewayne Russell as one of the most dynamic players in the nation.  The even better news is that Braun is back healthy now and dropped 31 points on Utah Valley last time out.  In fact, Russell and Braun combined for 52 points, and Russell added 11 assists in that game.  With Braun and Russell both healthy, the Lopes should be an amazingly fun team to watch the rest of the season, and have a real chance to capture the WAC regular season title (even if they are still ineligible for the NCAA Tournament #LopesWaiver).

New Mexico State enters tonight’s game at a very impressive 15-2 overall and 2-0 in conference.  The Aggies have one of the nation’s longest winning streaks, with 13 straight victories entering play tonight.  They feature a tough balanced scoring attack, with any of 4 or more players able to take over and lead the team on any given night.  Braxton Huggins was the points leader last time out, at Chicago State, with 27 points.  Eli Chuha added 13 points and 10 rebounds for his 7th double-double of the season.  If the Aggies can pick up the win over Thunder Dan’s Lopes tonight, they will have the inside track on the conference regular season championship — which comes with a bye into the conference tournament semifinal round.  However, to get the win they will need to find a way to slow down Braun and Russell, and that simply may not be possible.

 

 

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Under the Radar: January 11th

Posted on January 11, 2017 by David Griggs

Chad, John, and David start off by celebrating a big win by the Team of the People!!  New Hampshire snapped a frustrating three game div1 losing streak with a big win at Albany.  After that they run through all 23 UTR conferences (including the Mountain West) and discuss Oakland’s huge win at Valpo, another exciting start for the Big South, why New Mexico State may still need the automatic bid even if they win out, and much more.  And as always, they show us 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 | 2 Comments

Fostering Greatness: HoopsHD interviews Hall of Fame coach Jim Foster

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Jon Teitel

There is only 1 Geno when it comes to the best college basketball coaches ever but there are many named Jim: Boeheim, Calhoun, Phelan, etc. 1 Jim you should get to know if you do not already is Foster. Coach Jim Foster has won more than 850 games while running the show at 4 different schools (St. Joe’s/Vanderbilt/Ohio State/Chattanooga), and in 2014 he became the 1st coach in NCAA women’s history to take 4 different teams to the NCAA tourney. He has won more than a dozen conference titles, is a 2-time national COY, and has lost a whopping 2 conference games in Chattanooga since taking over in 2013. CHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Foster about 2 of his famous assistant coaches (1 of whom was named Geno) and what it meant to him to make the Hall of Fame.

You served multiple tours of duty in Vietnam with the Army in the 1960s: what impact did the war have on you either on or off the court? It made me older than my years: I saw and experienced a lot of things that you just cannot get during a college education.

In the 1985 NCAA tourney as head coach at St. Joe’s, Teresa Carmichael set a record by making all 11 of her FG attempts in a 4-PT loss to NC State: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot she put up seemed to go in because she was “in the zone”? She was a good player and our other post player had a great game as well.

2 of your assistants at St. Joe’s were Geno Auriemma and Muffet McGraw: could you have ever imagined that each of them would go on to win national titles as head coaches? I do not think that I imagined it but I am not surprised by it. I thought they both were very talented and winning a title is a crapshoot anyway. Geno is as good a coach as we have ever produced.

In the 1992 Olympic semifinals as an assistant coach for team USA you had a 6-PT loss to the eventual-champion Unified Team before beating Cuba for the bronze medal: how did a team with superstars such as Cynthia Cooper/Teresa Edwards/Teresa Weatherspoon end up with what remains the only loss by a US Olympic women’s basketball team since 1976? It just reaffirmed that you have to be very consistent to win the Olympics. We were a guard-strong team and could have used some more size: in hindsight a very young player named Lisa Leslie could have put us over the top.

In the 1995 NCAA tourney as head coach of #1-seed Vanderbilt, Jannon Roland made a 3-PT shot from the right corner at the buzzer in a 1-PT upset by Purdue: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? It is obviously disappointing anytime someone makes a shot at the buzzer to beat you. She did not hesitate and made a shot over our player who had her hand up. It was a long ride home.

In the 2000 NCAA tourney Chantelle Anderson scored 25 PTS in a 2-PT 2-OT win over Kansas: where does that rank among the most exciting wins of your career? Defensively Chavonne Hammond did a terrific job on the Jayhawks’ great guard Suzi Raymant, which kept us in the game. Anytime you win on the road in the tourney it is a great win.

Catrina Frierson scored 18 PTS (including a pair of FTs with 2.5 seconds left) in a 1-PT loss to Louisiana Tech: did you think that the freshman was going to make them both? I was not sure that she should have been shooting those shots but to her credit she made them.

You were a 4-time Big 10 COY as head coach at Ohio State and a 2-time national COY: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? It just goes with the territory when you have a good team. I am not convinced that I did not do a better job when the talent was not so good and the schedule was brutal: I never put too much credence in that stuff. In the end I just have to satisfy myself by evaluating the season for what it was and how we grew or did not grow.

In 2013 you were inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? I have a hard time putting my finger on it. Obviously the committee felt comfortable bestowing that honor on me but I had a lot of good players and assistants. At the end of the day I had a pretty good run but I will assess my career after I finish my run.

That same year you were named head coach at Chattanooga, where you went 32-0 in your 1st 2 years of SoCon play: how long do you plan on sticking around for, and did you think that you were ever going to lose a conference game?! I do not know the answer to either 1 but I enjoy being with young people on a daily basis because they bring a lot of energy: it keeps me young. I enjoy being in the gym with the players and their parents understand what we are trying to do, which is a great combination.

You are the 1st coach in NCAA women’s history to take 4 different teams to the NCAA tourney and you have more than 850 wins in your career: how have you been able to be so successful at so many different programs? I surround myself with quality people at every stop. It is easy to identify people like Geno and Muffet, but I have a terrific young staff here at Chattanooga and I think that they will be very successful. A lot of my assistants have gone on to become good head coaches themselves.

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