It is a very busy Saturday in college hoops, with two games matching up top fifteen teams!! Below is a rundown of all of today’s action.
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between South Alabama and Middle Tennessee(which would have been a highlighted game had he not picked it) – CLICK HERE
Last night, Duquesne snapped Pittsburgh’s 15-game winning streak in The City Game in Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena (formerly the Consol Center) with a 64-55 victory. For Pitt, it was a very costly one-game suspension for Jamel Artis; for Duquesne, it gives them a massive boost to a program that has had few signature wins since their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1977.
We’ve also joked that Texas/Shaka Smart struggle mightily in November, but with the calendar turned to December, they picked up a much needed win at home against Alabama. 5 Longhorn players finished in double figures, and they were led by Kerwin Roach Jr.’s 16 points (including 12-16 shooting at the charity stripe).
SPOTLIGHT GAMES
-XAVIER AT BAYLOR. This should be a fun one, both teams are in the top ten, and Baylor’s profile is particularly very good. This would likely be one of the bigger wins on either teams profile at the end of the year. It’s the kind of win that can indicate a team is a #1 seed, especially in the case of Xavier since they’re on the road.
-GONZAGA VS ARIZONA (Hoophall LA). This is a neutral site game between two highly ranked teams that have already won big games, and that will likely both end up as protected seeds. Wins away from home against highly ranked teams are what can get teams on the #1 line.
-ARKANSAS STATE AT TCU. Okay, so unlike the other spotlight games it doesn’t feature two top fifteen teams, but it is a game that almost no one is talking about that’s extremely important. TCU is out to a VERY surprising 7-0 start, and Arkansas State has just one loss with some pretty good wins on thier profile as well. We still have a lot of questions about both teams, but after watching both and looking at their profiles they both look like they could be tournament teams. The fact that both are surprises and that both could be tournament teams is why we’re spotlighting it.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WAKE FOREST AT RICHMOND. Wake is off to a decent 5-2 start, and although Richmond has dropped some games that they should have won they’ve also looked good at times. Both teams kind of need this one to keep their early profiles on track.
-UCLA AT KENTUCKY. Both teams are highly ranked and unbeaten. For UCLA, it’s a chance to pick up what would probably be a season defining win. It’s certainly a #1 seed caliber road win. I’ve had questions about UCLA, and still do. We shall see today.
-MEMPHIS AT OLE MISS. This is a fun out of conference rivalry. Memphis comes in with just one loss, and a win like this will certainly enable them to continue to build their momentum.
-GEORGIA TECH AT TENNESSEE. Georgia Tech is a respectable 4-2 (for now) and is looking to pick up their first road win.
-OKLAHOMA AT WISCONSIN. Oklahoma is an impressive 5-1, but they don’t have any wins that are anywhere close to this caliber. If they pick up this one then you have to start thinking of them not just as a solid tournament team, but a legit top 25 team.
-UCF AT UMASS. Both teams come into this game with one loss, and UCF has looked particularly impressive. It should be one of the bigger tests for UMass so far despite them being at home.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). This is a big rivalry, but it also looks to be a big mismatch. Don’t be surprised if Nova rolls, stays unbeaten, and stays highly ranked.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT VIRGINIA. These are two natural rivals that rarely play, so it’s fun to see that they’ve scheduled each other. the two played in MSG last year with Virginia winning big. Both teams are in the rankings and it would be a quality win on either team’s profile.
-RICE AT TEXAS TECH. Both teams come into this at a surprising 6-1. Rice actually already has three true road wins and is one of the UTR surprises this year. If they pick up this win they’ll have the early season earmarks of being a tournament team.
-WINTHROP AT DAYTON. This is a buy game, but Winthrop is a Big South frontrunner and Dayton, while good, is struggling with injuries, so the Flyers may need to be on upset alert.
-MIAMI OH AT FORT WAYNE. Fort Wayne can improve to 7-2, and with the win over Indiana on their profile they can keep themselves on the national radar.
-ILLINOIS VS VCU (Hoophall Miami Invitational). VCU is off to a very good start, and shouldn’t have too much trouble adding to another neutral floor win to their profile and improving to 7-1.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT WYOMING (MW/MVC Challenge). Both teams could end up having good years, but both have some work to do and you get the sense that this is an important game in regards to both teams getting their seasons turned back around.
-STANFORD AT KANSAS. This appears to be a huge mismatch, but Stanford has been better than expected, and this certainly isn’t the kind of loss that hurts them or sets them back.
-TULSA @ LITTLE ROCK. A win for Little Rock gets them to a very respectable 6-2 and makes them a team to watch in the Sun Belt.
-PENN AT TEMPLE (Big Five). Temple has been surprisingly good this year, and a win in this one gets them to 6-2.
-BUFFALO AT SAINT BONAVENTURE. This is a fun Big Four matchup between a Buffalo team that has struggled somewhat, but is still a respectable 4-3 against a tough schedule and should be a factor in the MAC, and a Saint Bonaventure team that’s off to a decent 4-2 start.
-MARSHALL AT EASTERN KENTUCKY. A win for Marshall gets them to 6-1 with the only loss being at Ohio State. A lot of CUSA teams are off to good starts.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (MW/MVC Challenge). This is a somewhat tough and perhaps very important road game for San Diego State. They need to put together a solid tournament profile, and their margin for error is somewhat limited given their lack of opportunities at big wins. But, to pick up a win at Loyola, who has been very good at home this year, will be worth something.
-RHODE ISLAND AT PROVIDENCE. This is a hugely intense OOC rivalry, and this year it perhaps has added meaning. Rhody is looking like an NCAA Tournament team, and although we thought Providence would be in complete rebuild mode, they’ve been much better than expected. Winning bragging rights against a rival while adding a quality win to their profile at the same time would do wonders for their season at this point.
-WRIGHT STATE AT PENN STATE. Wright State is a rather respectable 6-2, and a win for Penn State gets them to a respectable 6-3.
-TENNESSEE STATE AT LIPSCOMB. Tennessee State had an abysmal showing earlier this week against Vanderbilt, but they’re still 6-1 and can pick up their fourth true road win today.
-WICHITA STATE AT COLORADO STATE (MW/MVC Challenge). At first, we were disappointed that they didn’t match Wichita and San Diego State, but after seeing Colorado State so far this season, particularly thier recent win against rival Colorado, I’m actually excited about this game today. Colorado State has flown under the radar, probably because so many of their wins have come at home. But if they pick this one up and improve to 7-1 with wins over Colorado and Wichita State in the same week then…well…let’s just say that’s one hell of a week!!
-DEPAUL AT NORTHWESTERN. It is crazy to say this, but both teams come into this game with good records and there is reason to think one or both of them might be legit. That’s especially true for Northwestern who’s only two losses were tough games away from home against Butler and Notre Dame, and who picked up a lot of momentum earlier this week with a win over Wake Forest. Beating their crosstown foes and improving to 6-2 would undoubtedly feel really good as well.
-OREGON STATE AT CHARLOTTE. Charlotte, like a lot of CUSA teams, is off to a noticeably good start. A win today gets them to 6-2 on the year.
-VANDERBILT AT MINNESOTA. Minney is probably more fraud than for real, but they are 6-1 and can pick up a decent win today.
-BYU AT USC. USC is having a fantastic season so far!! Did you know that?? Well, if you didn’t then don’t feel bad because no one voting in the polls seems to know it either. A win gets them to 8-0, and their resume already includes a win at Texas A&M and another against SMU.
-KANSAS STATE AT SAINT LOUIS. A win for K State gets them to 6-1, and I believe gives them their first true road win.
-AKRON AT CREIGHTON. Akron has just one loss and is a team that we think can make a ton of noise in the MAC, and if things fall right could end up in the NCAA Tournament even without the automatic bid. Now, things falling right would involve winning a game like this one.
-NEW MEXICO AT ILLINOIS STATE (MW/MVC Challenge). Both teams look like they could have big years, but both teams have also dropped some winnable games early on. You get the sense that this is kind of a pivotal match-up.
-NEVADA AT BRADLEY (MW/MVC Challenge). Nevada is running out of strikes. They only have two losses and one was against Saint Mary’s (the other being Iona), but if they want to be taken seriously as a Mountain West frontrunner then they need to play better than what they have.
-AUBURN AT UAB. Does Auburn finally have it together this year? They’re 5-1, and this is their first true road game. UAB may not be the easiest place to win, but it’s a game that a legit tournament team should be able to pick up.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT MARYLAND. This is a great early season match-up for both teams, who each come into this with just one loss.
-LOUISVILLE AT GRAND CANYON. GCU is in their last year of transitioning, and they’ve dropped a game or two that we were expecting them to win, but their success as a transitonal program has been a great story, and they end up getting a huge showcase game at home today. For Louisville, a win in this game isn’t likely to be their biggest of the year, but they’ll get more credit for it than what most probably realize. GCU is tough to beat at home.
-COLORADO AT PORTLAND. Colorado is looking to bounce back after their loss to Colorado State earlier in the week. It isn’t the easiest game to be playing, but it is certainly a winnable road game.
BUY GAMES
-Kennesaw State @ Michigan
-Pfeiffer (nondiv1) @ UNC Wilmington
-Morehead State @ Purdue
-Louisiana Monroe @ Chattanooga
-Southern Utah @ Oakland
-Bryant @ Ohio U
-North Florida @ Syracuse
-Alcorn State @ California
-Central Arkansas @ Butler
-Oral Roberts @ Michigan State
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Ohio State
-Boston U @ NC State
-NC Central @ East Carolina
-Prairie View A&M @ Houston
-Wofford @ Miami FL
-Maine @ Duke
-Savannah State @ Oregon
-Morgan State @ Rutgers
-Austin Peay @ Arkansas
Puppet Ramblings, News and Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Dec 4th
A look back on a hugely eventful Saturday in college basketball, as well as a rant against how many of the power programs schedule.
PUPPET RAMBLINGS
-We’ve seen at least two games this year that we really don’t see all that often because they’re the kinds of games that power programs would rather not play. The other week Indiana went on the road to Fort Wayne and lost, and last night Louisville played at Grand Canyon in front of a crowd that was absolutely bonkers, and didn’t really get control of the game until the final ten minutes or so. Both games were certainly great for the fans and players of Grand Canyon and Fort Wayne, but I would argue that the games were great for the players and coaches of both Indiana and Louisville as well. I’ve been saying for years that these games aren’t just good for college basketball, but are even good for the power programs on the rare occasions when they do schedule them.
Many who are associated with the power programs, be it fans, coaches, administrators, or whoever, will say they don’t play these types of games because they have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Oh really?? This kind of thinking is dumb, illogical, and easily debunked.
Indiana lost at Fort Wayne. No sane person can argue that losing that game meant losing everything. They’re still highly ranked. Hell, with wins over Kansas and North Carolina, they can still end up as high as a #1 seed. Not only did they not lose everything, they really didn’t lose much of ANYTHING!! If anything you could argue that it made their team better. Taking an early lump like that on the road in front an an enthusiastic crowd gets teams used to playing on the road in front of enthusiastic crowds once conference play starts. I’d say the Hoosiers took something from that and actually ended up better off. Another example of a game like this was last night’s Louisville vs Grand Canyong game. In the post game presser, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said that he felt the crowd was amazing, and that playing in that environment did a lot to make them a better team. Louisville has a tendency to like to schedule a lot of home buy games. Hopefully he’s serious and they’ll continue to seak out games like this.
There are a few teams out there who do play games like this, and we need to mention them. Virginia typically plays an early season road game, oftentimes an opener, against what we at Hoops HD would call an Under the Radar team. They went to UNC Greensboro this year. In recent years they’ve gone to Old Dominion, James Madison, Green Bay, and some other tough local teams such as VCU and George Washington. They’ve won a lot of those games, but you know what?? They haven’t won all of them. Yet, in the last three years they’ve yet to be seeded worse than the #2 line. So, they’re not “losing everything and gaining nothing” either. Like Indiana, they’re not really losing ANYTHING even when they don’t win the games, and they gain more than they would from a home buy game when they do win the games.
North Carolina was the national runner up last year. They played and lost at Northern Iowa. They didn’t gain nothing and lose everything. In fact North Carolina is considered among the top college basketball programs in the country, and they’ve played in many of these games. They’ve gone to UAB, Tulane, UNC Asheville, Long Beach State, and Evansville to name a few in recent years. I think their program is doing just fine.
Villanova was the national champion last year. They still play all the Big Five teams, including the UTR Big Five teams, on equal terms. They didn’t gain nothing and lose everything. In fact, last year, they won everything.
We’ve seen Wisconsin do it, and they seem to be doing just fine. They’re one of the most successful programs in the Big Ten. They have not lost everything and gained nothing.
There is not a single example of a program who played in a game like this and then had it go on to be the defining moment of what wrecked their season after they lost it. Not one. Anyone who argues that there is everything to lose and nothing to gain for a power conference team who schedules a game or two like this doesn’t know what they’re talking about. If you encounter this, know that you’re listening to a misinformed idiot.
Chad made this point and asked this question in an email discussion group that we have here at Hoops HD. I will repeat it here. WHY THE F*** DON’T MORE TEAMS SCHEDULE THESE KINDS OF GAMES??
NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Like all Saturdays, yesterday was a crazy busy day in college basketball that featured three top sixteen match-ups! If you like match-ups between top sixteen teams, then this was the day for you! If you like exciting games, well, then maybe you should have changed the station if you were watching the two that we highlighted. Gonzaga jumped out to a huge early lead against Arizona and although the Wildcats did close it up down the stretch, you never felt that the game was close. Xavier played well against Baylor for a half, but it was the wrong half. The Bears opened it up about midway through the second half and were comfortably ahead by the end of the game. For Baylor, it’s their third top ten win of the season, and they have one of the best looking profiles so far.
-West Virginia picked up a very nice win at Virginia. I love this UVA team, and for West Virginia to get the win there may turn out to be one of the biggest road wins on anyone’s NCAA Tournament profile come Selection Sunday. Just very impressive and perhaps season defining win! Well, it turns out that it wasn’t even the most impressive road win of the day….
-UCLA went into Rupp Arena and got the win after leading for pretty much the entire second half. I had my concerns about UCLA before the season. I had my concerns about UCLA even after they started 7-0. At halftime, I had my concerns as to whether or not UCLA would hold on. I no longer have any concerns about UCLA. Just a HUGELY impressive and very rare type of road win that they picked up yesterday.
(***TRIVIA*** Last year’s #1 and #2 seeds, which included Virginia, were a combined 122-6 at home. So, to see two teams that we believe could easiliy/likely end up as #1 or #2 seeds both lose at home in the same day is rather rare. A #1 or #2 seed losing at home to anyone happens about the same percent of time that a #15 seed wins in the Round of 64)
-The Providence vs Rhode Island game has been hugely exicting for the past three or four years. It has also been won by Providence for the last seven years, and that streak continued yesterday as the Friars upset nationally ranked Rhody at home. For a Providence team that we were expecting to be in a rebuilding mode, they’ve looked very good this season and now have a big win both on and off paper to fuel their season.
-One of the more exciting games of the day was Texas Tech, who took down Rice after getting fouled while shooting a three pointer in the final seconds and then hitting all three freethrows. Both teams came into the game with just one loss, and both teams looked good, so they may be someone you want to keep an eye on if you’re looking for a darkhorse.
-VCU lost to Illinois in Miami, and they did not mess around when it came to losing this game!! They did so thoroughly and decisively and left no doubt about it!! I still like VCU, but it was a shockingly poor and uninspired performance against an Illinois team that they really should have beaten.
-Wichita State led the entire second half at Colorado State, who was unbeaten and on an emotional high after winning at Colorado. It is probably the best that I’ve seen the Shockers look this year, and I know this game wasn’t high on the radars of most college basketball fans, but it is a game that I think they’ll get a lot of credit for winning.
-USC defeated BYU to remain unbeaten on the year. When are people finally going to notice how good USC is?? Even their own fans seem to be in the dark about how good they are.
-TCU improved to 8-0 after absolutely clobbering what I think is a good Arkansas State team. I mean, TCU beat them all over the place. This sounds weird to say, but they are no longer a doormat.
-Beating DePaul is no feat, but Northwestern certainly passed the so called ‘eye test’ while doing it. Honestly, Northwestern has been passing the ‘eye test’ all year. They had close and disappointing losses to very good Butler and Notre Dame teams, but they’ve won all their other games and have looked good doing it. And unlike USC, their fans do seem to be aware of it! They’re packing their building and their home atmosphere is quite electric.
-Middle Tennessee is an Under the Radar team that perhaps needs to be on your radar. They won on the road at South Alabama (who had just one loss) to improve to 8-1 on the year.
-Auburn picked up a big win at UAB. Winning at UAB in and of itself isn’t a huge feat, but Auburn is off to a 6-1 start and looks to have their best team since Bruce Pearl took over. Well, to be more accurate, they appear to have their best team since long before Bruce Pearl took over.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MARQUETTE AT GEORGIA. Both teams come into this game at 5-2 and needing to continue to build their tournament resumes during out of conference play.
-CANISIUS AT MONMOUTH (Metro Atlantic). The window for Monmouth is still open, but barely. They basically need to run the table if they want to land inside the bubble.
-FLORIDA STATE VS GEORGE WASHINGON (BB&T Classic). GW has struggled this year, but they’re good enough to where this would be a nice OOC win away from home if the Florida State is able to pick it up. If they’re a top 25 caliber team then they should be able to win games like this.
-DAVIDSON AT CHARLESTON. This isn’t the easiest road game to win, but it would get Davidson out to a rather noticeable 6-1 and give them their second true road win of the season.
BUY GAMES
-Florida International @ South Carolina
-Coppin State @ Clemson
-Radford @ North Carolina
-Delaware State @ SMU
-SEMO @ Indiana
-Georgia State @ Mississippi State
-North Carolina A&T @ Notre Dame
-Bowling Green @ Cincinnati