Yale at Sacred Heart, 8:00 PM Eastern, necfrontrow.com
With finals upon us, the basketball slate tonight is rather sparse (only 11 games total on the entire schedule), and the UTR Game of the Day has found its way to Fairfield, Connecticut where the Sacred Heart Pioneers will be hosting intrastate foe Yale. Sacred Heart enters tonight’s game at 4-5 overall. Although they have suffered losses to Hartford, Northern Colorado and Santa Clara, the Pioneers have also picked up a few nice wins, most notably a road victory at Fordham. Quincy McKnight was especially impressive in their last game out (a win over Umass-Lowell), scoring 34 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. McKnight has now topped the 20 point mark six times this season. However, he was held to only 2 points in the Fordham win, and it was Joseph Lopez, with 19 points and 10 rebounds, who led the way in that victory.
Yale enters play tonight at 3-4 overall, including their notable season-opening win at Washington. Three of the Bulldogs’ four losses have been at Virginia, at Pittsburgh and at Vermont, none of which are anything to hang one’s head in shame over. They finally broke their four game losing streak last time out with a solid home win over Albany. Anthony Dallier and Alex Copeland tied for the team lead with 15 points each in that game. Also keep an eye on Miye Oni, a double-double threat every time he takes the floor. A road win tonight will help Yale gain some momentum as they head into a stretch where four of their last five non-conference games will be at home.
LAST NIGHT’S GAMES
– It was a mixed bag for the Big East conference last night – both Seton Hall and Creighton won notable games away from home against Cal (at Pearl Harbor) and Nebraska, respectively. While neither Cal nor Nebraska are world-beaters, both were noteworthy wins, especially for Seton Hall who desperately needed that game. Butler and Xavier were not able to escape against Indiana State and Colorado – both games went down to the final seconds. Neither loss was critically damaging, although Xavier still has yet to win a road game despite 3 neutral-court wins at the Tire Pros Invitational.
– George Mason is slowly starting to look like a team to watch under Dave Paulsen; they now have wins against Northern Iowa and Penn State on the road to add to what is currently a 6-game winning streak. They stumbled early in the year at home against Towson and Mount St. Mary’s, so they’ve still got work to do if they want to get to the NCAAs in March. They have a good shot at being a noisemaker in a reloading year for the Atlantic 10.
– As for other Top 25 action, Davidson did give North Carolina a scare in the DeanDome but was unable to snag an upset. Gonzaga rolled over Washington in Spokane.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-IOWA STATE AT IOWA. We love this rivalry! To give you an idea of the intensity, last year Iowa State was ranked #2 in the country, and after beating an unranked Iowa team at home, the fans stormed the court. So, this one is a huge deal both on and off paper. Iowa State clearly looks to be the better team and could really use a true road win on their profile, but don’t forget the rivalry factor. It won’t be an easy game for them to win.
-VANDERBILT AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. There aren’t too many UTR teams that seem to have a strong path to land inside the bubble, but Middle Tennessee is one of the few. With that being said, they really need to win this one at home.
-FORDHAM AT ST. JOHN’S. This was a game that Fordham won last year that got chippy toward the end of the game. The Johnnies will be looking for revenge in this one.
-PACIFIC AT UMASS. Buy game
-NICHOLLS AT FLORIDA STATE. Buy game
-TEXAS ARLINGTON AT SAINT MARY’S. This is a buy game, but we think UTA will be a Sun Belt frontrunner and may be able to compete with SMC.
Throwback Thursday: The 1955 and 1956 San Francisco (USF) Dons
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Yale and Sacred Heart (along with today’s news and notes) – CLICK HERE
While we at HoopsHD normally do not look favorably on games against non-DI opponents, an exception needs to be made for USF earlier this week. They beat San Francisco State 91-59 in a game that was held at the ancient Kezar Pavilion at Golden Gate Park. Kezar Pavilion was home to the Dons until 1958 and was home to back-to-back national champions for the 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons. The game against San Francisco State was the first time in 58 years that USF would play at Kezar!
Led by coach Phil Woolpert and future NBA Hall-of-Famers Bill Russell and KC Jones, the Dons were the class of what was the California Basketball Association at that time. This was a conference that included USF, Saint Mary’s, Pacific, Santa Clara and San Jose State. With only 5 teams in the conference, each school would play each other 3 times in the season, and USF swept through the regular season 12-0 in the 1954-55 season.
Their only blemish that year was at UCLA – they lost against the Bruins on December 11, 1954 but would avenge that game a week later. After sweeping 3 games in a round-robin event at Oklahoma City against Wichita State, Oklahoma City and George Washington, the Dons began their ascent in the polls and would be #1 in the country by February. When the NCAA Tournament came around in March, the Dons defeated West Texas A&M, Utah and Oregon State (in a close 1-point win) to advance to the Final Four in Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium. In the Final Four, USF defeated Colorado 62-50 and denied La Salle (77-63) a shot at their 2nd straight title in the championship game. Utah, Oregon State, Colorado and La Salle were all nationally ranked at the time the Dons defeated them in the tournament (as were UCLA, Wichita State and GW during the regular season).
While USF finished 28-1 in the 1954-55 season, they would finish a perfect 29-0 the following season. The California Basketball Association added Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and Fresno State to their conference, but none of the other 7 teams could challenge the Dons’ supremacy in the league. DePaul, UCLA, Holy Cross and Wichita State were also noteworthy teams that USF beat during the regular season. USF would begin the year ranked #1 in the polls and would finish the year ranked #1 from start to finish.
As for the 1956 NCAA Tournament, UCLA and Utah offered little resistance in what was called the “Far West” regional (played in Corvallis, Oregon) that year to USF – Temple advanced from the East, Iowa from the Midwest and SMU won the “West” regional (if you consider Lawrence, Kansas to be “West”). The Dons defeated SMU 86-68 and Iowa 83-71 in Evanston, Illinois for their 2nd straight title. In all, USF won 59 straight games (55 against D-I opponents) before finally losing a game in the 1956-57 season at Illinois. That season, the Dons finished 3rd in the Final 4 with a loss to eventual runner-up Kansas and a win against Michigan State.