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…

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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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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Jan 11th

Posted on January 11, 2017 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-First and foremost, WE STILL LOVE THE UNH WILDCATS!!!!  They are the Team of the People!!  They’ve had an incredibly frustrating couple of weeks, but their high ceiling is still high!!  They’re back in action tonight, and Chad Sherwood has made it his UTR Game of the Day!  CLICK HERE to read about tonight’s big game at Albany

-We had some great showcase games yesterday!  We had THREE games that matched up top fifteen teams!  All three of those games were complete duds!  Xavier had a great first ten minutes, and was absolutely blown off the floor by Villanova after that.  Baylor had an okay first half, and then was absolutely run out of the gym by West Virginia in the second half.  Duke tried to stay within reach of Florida State, but by the end of the game that was pretty much a blowout as well.  All three home teams won rather easily.  As big as the margins were, it isn’t totally crazy that the games were blowouts, nor does it mean that Xavier, Duke, and Baylor aren’t as good as their rankings or profiles indicated going into last night.  It just means that they’re not used to playing in hostile environments against other highly ranked teams yet.  Sometimes a team has to get their noses bloodied before they realize that they need to fight harder.  Not to pick on Xavier, but the same thing happened to them at Villanova last season, and they went on to absorb it and were a pretty tough road team after that.  Don’t be surprised if we see the same thing happen again from all three of these teams.

Not to continue to harp on that point, but if you go back through the years, most teams lose their first couple of true road game that is played in a hostile environment.  The earlier a team goes on the road and plays a game like that, the more quickly they seem to become acclimated.  We saw Virginia go to George Washington last year, and North Carolina go to Northern Iowa and Texas as well.  Both teams lost those games, but at the same time they also seemed to become more acclimated more quickly to playing on the road.  I think what we saw last night was teams that just weren’t used to playing in those kinds of environments against those kinds of teams.  I know Xavier did go to Baylor, but that was really their only true road game against a very strong team.

-Kansas State lost in spectacular fashion at Texas Tech after a late game technical foul against Coach Bruce Weber basically killed their chances to pick up what would have been a solid conference road win.  It was another good home win for a Texas Tech team that’s now flirting with the bubble.

-Indiana’s frustrations continue as they lost at Maryland.  There’s really no shame in losing at Maryland, and they were in a position to win the game in the final seconds, but the aggravation of not getting it done is starting to mount for the Hoosiers.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-HOUSTON AT EAST CAROLINA (American).  Houston’s at-large chances are still flickering.  They need to knock off some of the teams at the top of the league as well as blow through the rest of the league.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  VCU is one of the few A10 teams that appears to be hovering around the bubble.  Like all bubble teams with limited chances at notable wins, their margin for error is small.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT TENNESSEE (SEC).  South Carolina is clearly the better team and is having the better season, but this won’t be the easiest road game for them to win.

-MINNESOTA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Minnesota has been one of the bigger surprises of the season.  For that matter so has Michigan State, but they’ve been the other kind of a surprise.  This is the kind of road win that could further solidify Minnesota, and it’s the type of home win that could help stabilize Michigan State.

-PITTSBURGH AT LOUISVILLE (ACC).  Louisville still appears to be on the cusp of a protected seed and should be able to take care of business at home and even out their conference record.

-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley).  Wichita appears to be somewhat safely inside the bubble and should remain there so long as they hold serve.

-DAYTON AT UMASS (Atlantic Ten).  Dayton appears to be inside the bubble for now, but because the league has so many teams that appear to be NIT caliber at best their margin for error is rather small.

-SETON HALL AT MARQUETTE (Big East).  Seton Hall is 12-3.  Seton Hall is the defending Big East Champion.  As much love as the Big East has been getting, I’m amazed that very little of it has seemed to trickle down to a Seton Hall program that throughout all of last year and so far all of this year has been very good.  They have a chance to pick up yet another conference road win against a Marquette team that’s also on the rise.

-TCU AT TEXAS (Big Twelve).  There has been a lot of TCU love here at Hoops HD.  It is warranted in the sense that their program is improving.  It is not warranted (at least in my opinion) as far as them being improved to the point of being an NCAA Tournament team.  Texas has clearly not looked like an NCAA team.  If TCU truly is an NCAA team, then this is the kind of road game they need to be able to win.  So for that reason, I believe it is a rather important litmus test.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  UNC continues to look like they are clearly in the protected seed range and they have a winnable road game tonight.

-LSU AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  I highlight this game only so I can say how utterly disappointed I am in Texas A&M so far.

-MICHIGAN AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  What a bubblelicous game this is!  Both teams really need this one for that reason.

-NC STATE AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC).  I’m still not all that high on this NC State team, and even if they pick up this road win, that will not change.

-IOWA STATE AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big Twelve).  This game has a pivotal feel for both teams.  Both have looked like they could be good, and both have a few good things on their profile, but both need to add a lot more meat to it.

-BUTLER AT CREIGHTON (Big East).  Both teams are high in the rankings, and if the season ended today it’s very likely that both would be protected seeds.  Butler hasn’t been the best road team this year, and Creighton has been remarkable at home, so the advantage is strongly with the Blue Jays.  If Butler wins this and gets a true road win on their profile of this caliber it probably moves them up at least one seed line.  Maybe more.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: New Hampshire at Albany

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Chad

New Hampshire at Albany, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3

Boston University 73, UNH 69.  Dartmouth 63, UNH 62.  Stony Brook 59, UNH 56.  8 points in total.  That is all that has separated the New Hampshire Wildcats from wins in their last three games against Division I opponents.  Things have not gone well for the HoopsHD Team of the People during the last few weeks, and it is time to turn things around and move towards that first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.  Tonight, the Wildcats (9-6 overall, 0-1 in conference) head to Albany to take on the Great Danes.  Star player Tanner Leissner had three of his best point totals (25, 19 and 25) in the three losses.  However, he is going to need more help from the rest of his teammates if New Hampshire wants to pick up this road win.  The talent and ability are definitely here, and a win tonight will easily erase the bad memories of the last few weeks as conference play moves forward.

The Albany Great Danes are coming off of one of the roughest losses in their program’s history on Sunday at Stony Brook.  UAlbany (9-8 overall, 0-2 in conference) held at 70-51 lead late in the game and appeared to be cruising to their first conference victory.  Then the sky fell down, the earth opened up, and all kinds of awful things happened.  When the dust cleared, Stony Brook had finished the game on an amazing 21-0 run to defeat the Great Danes 72-70.  UAlbany will be out to erase those memories at home tonight.  David Nichols and Joe Cremo will look to lead the way.  Nichols has scored in double figures in 7 of his last 8 games, while Cremo has averaged 20 points in the team’s two conference games so far.  Tonight’s game will certainly be about redemption.  The only question is whether it will be UNH’s after their rough last few weeks or UAlbany’s after what happened on Sunday.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Jan 10th

Posted on January 10, 2017 by David Griggs

 

NEWS AND NOTES

-I believe I forgot to mention this at the time, but back on December 18th Clemson picked up a nice neutral floor win against Alabama.  The game was in Birmingham and the crowd was partial to Alabama, so even though it was technically a neutral floor win it was much closer to a road game than a home game.  I don’t know why I suddenly feel compelled to mention that.

-For our latest Hoops HD Report, where we run through all of the multi-bid leagues and discuss the biggest surprises and disappointments of the season so far – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Akron and Central Michigan – CLICK HERE

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-BAYLOR AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve) (***Potential Protected Seed Showcase!!!***).  Both teams are in the top ten.  Baylor is #1 for the first time in their history and they have some very big wins already, but this is probably their toughest game to date considering it is a true road game against a legitimately highly ranked team.  Both look like they could end up as protected seeds and this would certainly be a high profile win for whoever it is that pulls it out.

-XAVIER AT VILLANOVA (Big East)(***Potential Protected Seed Showcase!!!***).  These are two of the heavyweights from the Big East.  At this point in time Nova is clearly the more proven team.  Xavier has a good record and some decent wins, but no great ones.  Pulling this off would certainly qualify as a great win.  Perhaps the greatest single win that any team has managed up to this point.

-DUKE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC)(***Potential Protected Seed Showcase!!!***).  Both teams are highly ranked.  Both are likely protected seeds and even possible #1 seeds, and this is the kind of game they need to be able to win in order to land on the #1 line.  Florida State has actually looked like the better team and has built the better profile.  Duke is also adjusting to life without Coach K, so it will be interesting to see what they can do against a good team in a hostile environment.

-KENTUCKY AT VANDERBILT (SEC).  Kentucky can end up on the #1 line if they continue to blow through the SEC.  This is also a good chance for them to pick up another true road win.

-SYRACUSE AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Syracuse is the nation’s most schizophrenic team.  Their good wins are really good, and their bad losses are atrocious.  Outside of their win at Michigan Virginia Tech has struggled on the road, but they’ve been really tough at home.  This is a big game and good opportunity for both teams.

-FLORIDA AT ALABAMA (SEC).  Florida has been playing really well, but so has Alabama in their last couple of games.  The Gators are the better team, but they’re also on the road, so this won’t be the easiest game for them to win.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT ARKANSAS (SEC).  Arkansas is off to a good start, but they need a strong showing in conference in order to make the field, and they need to hold serve in games like this.

-KANSAS AT OKLAHOMA (Big Twelve).  Kansas clearly looks like a #1 seed having won every game since the season opener, and should be able to pick up another road win in this one.  When these two met last year, it was a much bigger deal.

-KANSAS STATE AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve).  Both teams have shown some promise, but both still have a lot of work to do.  This is a big game for both teams because this is the kind of game that both of them need to win.

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