Bracket Projections: November 28th

Posted on November 28, 2016 by John Stalica

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Boston University and Saint Peter’s College, and the rest of today’s Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

Now that the lion’s share of exempt events have been played through Thanksgiving weekend, we now have a large enough sample size to start making a bracket projection that does not feature as many outliers (sorry, Wagner). If you were paying attention in Atlantis, for example, you had to be impressed with the showing that Baylor made. They already had a home win against Oregon under their belts, and now they added wins against VCU, Michigan State and Louisville. While I’m not convinced that Baylor will finish the season as a #1 seed, that body of work certainly merits a 1 seed at this point in time.

The other big winner during Feast Week was Gonzaga. After a comfortable win over Quinnipiac in the Advocare opener, they added wins against Florida (almost as good as a road win) and Iowa State to their profile. Welcome to the 2 line, Zags. Xavier and UCLA also won their respective events, but the competition just wasn’t on par as the two aforementioned teams before. Xavier will certainly have their opportunity at a signature win later this week when they hit the road for a game at Baylor; UCLA will get their chance when they visit Kentucky on Saturday as well.

Butler (wins over Vandy and Arizona in Las Vegas), South Carolina (wins over Monmouth/Michigan at home and over Syracuse in Brooklyn) and USC (win at Texas A&M and against SMU at home) also make this week’s field. And if you’re looking for other teams that, while technically power conference teams, fall completely under the radar but still made the NCAA Tournament field, look no further than the play-in games. SPOILER ALERT: It is not Northwestern, nor is it Nebraska. Sorry, Puppet.

And if you pay attention to the South Region, a potential UCLA-Stanford rematch is permissible for the time being since they are only scheduled to play once at UCLA this season. This matchup becomes null and void if they play in the Pac-12 Tournament.

11-28-16-bracket-part-1

11-28-16-bracket-part-2

My first 4 teams out this week would be Wichita State, Seton Hall, California and Georgia.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Boston University at St. Peter’s (And Other Highlighted Games)

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Chad

Boston University at St. Peter’s, 7:00 PM Eastern, saintpeterspeacocks.com (PPV)

The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to Jersey City, NJ tonight for a non-conference battle between the Patriot League’s Boston University Terriers and the Metro Atlantic’s St. Peter’s Peacocks.  The visiting Terriers have the rare distinction of being able to claim they have beaten every team on their schedule so far this season, despite not being undefeated.  They opened the season with a loss at cross-town rival Northeastern, then returned the favor a week later by beating the Huskies in the opening game of the Steve Wright Classic, a four team round-robin event hosted by BU.  In fact, the Terriers swept their host event by following that win up with victories over Maine and LIU-Brooklyn.  The Terriers have had four or more players hit double-digits in three of their five games so far, and that balanced scoring attack and deep use of the bench should make them a tough team to beat all season long.

The host Peacocks of St. Peter’s enter tonight’s game with a record of 2-2.  They are coming off a solid home win over one of the Northeast Conference’s top teams and in-state rival Fairleigh Dickinson.  Six different players hit double-digits in scoring in that game for the Peacocks, including Quadir Welton who picked up 12 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.  The Peacocks need to make certain they don’t overlook BU tonight, as Friday will actually mark the start of conference play for this team.  With a 20 game regular season, the Metro Atlantic teams each play a pair of conference games in early December before returning to non-conference play until the New Year.

 

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KENTUCKY VS ARIZONA STATE (Atlantis Showcase).  I don’t know how much of a “showcase” this will be.  Most people love the Bahamas.  Chances are Arizona State will not enjoy themselves tonight.

-MINNESOTA AT FLORIDA STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Minney is unbeaten, but this is by far their biggest test of the year up to this point.  If they win this one then we’ll have to look at them as being nationally relevant.  At least for now.

-WAKE FOREST AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Despite it being early, and despite both these teams having multiple chances at big wins in front of them, I can’t help but feel this is a pivotal game.  Northwestern has two losses, and both were close games against quality teams.  If they ever want to get over the hump, they need to start winning a few of those.  Wake has just one loss and has looked good, but this is still one of their tougher tests of the season up to this point.

-BUTLER AT UTAH.  Both teams are unbeaten, and both have looked pretty good up to this point, especially Butler who is coming off a huge win against Arizona.

BOISE STATE AT OREGON.  It’s not what we would normally call a buy game since Boise is from a multi-bid league (not to mention this is a return game from last year’s meeting in Boise), but the final score may end up looking as if it were.

-MANHATTAN AT WEST VIRGINIA.  Buy game.

-MOUNT SAINT MARY’S AT ARKANSAS.  Buy game.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  Buy game.

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News, Notes and Highlighted Games: Sunday, November 27th

Posted on November 27, 2016 by John Stalica

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between New Hampshire and Winthrop – CLICK HERE

While yesterday’s focus in college sports was mostly on the gridiron, there were still quite a few noteworthy games in college hoops. In Brooklyn, for example, there were 2 teams that came away with significant wins – South Carolina got a very nice win against Syracuse in what was a de facto home game for the Orange. With wins against Monmouth, Michigan and Syracuse now under their belts, the Gamecocks will also have chances against teams like Seton Hall and Clemson to bolster their NCAA Tournament hopes even further. The nightcap between Maryland and Kansas State was also entertaining, and Maryland was able to get a game-winning shot from Melo Trimble in the closing seconds to survive a potential upset bid by Kansas State.

As far as other exempt tournaments coming to a close yesterday, Virginia finished off a nice weekend with wins over Iowa and Providence, Iona won the Great Alaska Shootout with a buzzer-beater over Nevada, and even TCU claimed a title in the Global Sports Classic with wins over UNLV and Washington.

Xavier, Duke and Creighton all looked very solid with home wins over Northern Iowa, Appalachian State and Loyola-Maryland, respectively. Grayson Allen did sustain another injury during Duke’s game yesterday, although all indications are that he should be able to play against Michigan State on Tuesday. Oregon State was not nearly as fortunate – Tres Tinkle is out of action for 6-8 weeks thanks to a broken wrist.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

INDIANA STATE vs. QUINNIPIAC (Advocare Invitational, 7th Place) – Both teams played better than their 0-2 records would suggest this weekend, although only one team will be able to salvage a single win today.

MONMOUTH at HOLY CROSS – This game is the 4th and final exempt game for both teams that is part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational (round robin but nonbracketed). Neither team is in serious contention for an at-large bid, although games like this can make the difference between a 14 and a 15 seed come March (if you’re Monmouth).

IOWA STATE vs. GONZAGA (Advocare Invitational, Championship) – The Big 12 already has 3 teams that have won exempt events during the past week (Kansas, Baylor and TCU), although Gonzaga may be the favorite to win what could be a record 3rd title in Orlando.

NEW MEXICO vs. DAYTON (Wooden Legacy, 5th Place) – Dayton is starting to rack up injuries at an alarming rate (neither Cunningham nor Pollard have played this past week) and beating New Mexico outside of the friendly confines of UD Arena is not a given.

BALL STATE at VALPARAISO – This will be the return game from last year where Ball State pulled off the upset against Valpo; the Crusaders need to avenge this loss if they want to retain any shot of an at-large bid this season.

VIRGINIA TECH vs. NEBRASKA (Wooden Legacy, 3rd Place) – Nebraska does have a nice young team that has a shot of getting their 2nd win away from home in 4 days, but it’s still going to be an uphill climb against a Virginia Tech team that’s still trying to learn how to win key games away from home under Buzz Williams.

MIAMI-FL vs. FLORIDA (Advocare Invitational, 3rd Place) – These teams were not initially scheduled to play each other this year, but the opportunity is now there for both the Hurricanes and Gators to add a feather to what could be solid at-large profiles for both teams.

UAB vs. SAINT MARY’S (played in Las Vegas – Orleans Arena) – This is not part of any exempt event, but nonetheless a nice out-of-conference matchup for both teams. It’s not a gimme game by any means for the Gaels, although UAB isn’t going to have the benefit of a fully healthy roster for this game.

SIENA at ALBANY – The battle for bragging rights at Albany. ‘Nuff said. (as our Albany native Chad Sherwood would say)

STANFORD vs. SETON HALL (Advocare Invitational, 5th Place) – Both teams will get one more crack at a neutral-court win over a power conference opponent in the Orlando nightcap.

TEXAS A&M vs. UCLA (Wooden Legacy, Championship) – Almost as good as a road game for the Aggies, and another chance for UCLA to continue their streak of 99+ point games to start their season.

CAL STATE-NORTHRIDGE vs. PORTLAND (Wooden Legacy, 7th place) – How many fans will be left in Anaheim to watch this titanic struggle between middling teams in the Big West and West Coast conferences?

BUY GAMES

Howard at Georgetown
Prairie View A&M at Wisconsin
Wofford at Colorado
Mississippi Valley State at Indiana (Indiana Classic, nonbracketed)
UC-Santa Barbara at USC

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

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Chad

New Hampshire at Winthrop, 2:00 PM Eastern, bigsouthsports.com

The NIT Season Tip-Off was played in Brooklyn this week, with Temple scoring the surprising victory over West Virginia in the championship game.  However, the games in Brooklyn (also involving Florida State and Illinois) were not the entirety of the event, as New Hampshire, Detroit, Winthrop and Manhattan all played campus site games at the four schools that went to Brooklyn, as well as a pair of games against each other to provide a full four games to each program.  At one time, this event was fully bracketed for all teams involved, meaning that an upset win by a smaller school over one of the major conference schools would allow that team to advance to the final rounds in New York.  If that had been the case this season still, today’s Under the Radar Game of the Day may have been played in Brooklyn, as Winthrop scored an 84-80 overtime win at Illinois and New Hampshire won at Temple 57-52.

Winthrop enters today’s game with a record of 3-1, highlighted by the Illinois win.  Keon Johnson was dominant for the Eagles in that win, scoring a career high 38 points.  Johnson did not play in Winthrop’s one loss of the season, at Florida State, and if he had added just half the number of points he scored last time out against the Seminoles, the Eagles would be undefeated right now.  However, no matter how good Pat Kelsey’s team has been so far, they will not have an easy task this afternoon with the HoopsHD 2016-17 Team of the People coming to town.

The University of New Hampshire Wildcats have never played in the NCAA Tournament.  No team from the State of New Hampshire has been to the Big Dance since Dartmouth, way back in 1959.  Although rival Vermont is out to a solid start (including a win yesterday at Yale), the Wildcats remain our pick to win the America East this season.  They are led by Tanner Leissner, who dropped 31 points on Detroit earlier this week, and Jaleen Smith, who had a double-double in the same game.  Winning at Winthrop may be a tall order for this team, but with a win over Temple already in their pockets, there is no reason to lack any faith in this team.

As a final side note, our campaign to have several key game dates for the Wildcats this season declared state-wide holidays appears to be going well.  All signs are that Saturday, December 31 (New Year’s Eve road game at Dartmouth) and Monday, January 16 (MLK Day home game vs Vermont) may both end up being declared days that all state offices will be closed.  We will continue to keep everyone updated on the progress of these efforts.  #GoDancingOrDie

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Nov 26th

Posted on November 26, 2016 by David Griggs

Below is a rundown of all of today’s action and a look back at a busy day yesterday.

NEWS AND NOTES

-Butler began this season unranked and without much of a spotlight on them.  We’ve seen this before.  In fact, more often than not for the past 15 years now Butler does not start off in the rankings and is believed to be at the end of their run.  Well, yesterday they beat 8th-ranked Arizona to stay unbeaten, and are almost certian to be a national story now.

-Baylor also began the season unranked.  They now have wins against Oregon, VCU, Michigan State, and Louisville, whom they overcame a 20 point deficit in the second half to come back and beat.  That’s as impressive a start as any other team out there right now.

-Gonzaga had some trouble in their first real test of the season against Florida in a quasi-road environment, but held on to win and will face a strong Iowa State team tomorrow.

-Temple, who none of us expected anything out of, picked up another huge and surprising win yesterday against West Virginia in the NIT.  They actually had a 20 point lead and almost blew it, but they held on to win.  Since losing to New Hampshire and UMass, the Owls have looked like a top 25 team in knocking off both Florida State and West Virginia.

-USC picked up another nice win at home agianst SMU to remain unbeaten.  Watch out for the Trojans this year – they now have a noteworthy win at home to go along with their win at Texas A&M last week.

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

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NORTHERN IOWA AT XAVIER.  These two just met in the championship game of the Tire Pros Invitational, and this is technically a non bracketed exempt game that’s part of that event.  Xavier is already in good shape, and if UNI could pull off the upset it would probably be their biggest win on their profile all year long.

-YALE AT VERMONT.  Both teams have looked good early, but both have a small margin for error in regards to landing either on the bubble, or in the bubble, come March.

-SOUTH CAROLINA VS SYRACUSE (Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational).  Both teams come in unbeaten, and South Carolina is coming off a big home win against Michigan.  I know it’s early, but both look like they could be tournament teams, and this is a chance for them to pick up a quality neutral floor win.  For Syracuse, it is their first real test of the season.

-CHATTANOOGA AT KENNESAW STATE.  We highlight this only because we feel Chattanooga is about out of at-large strikes.  The rest of their games this year are winnable, and they pretty much need to win all of them.

-PENN STATE AT GEORGE WASHINGTON.  Both teams have shown signs of life early on this season, but both still have a lot of work to do in regards to building a tournament caliber profile.

-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT NC STATE.  Both teams come into this game with just one loss.  NC State doesn’t have any huge wins yet and may not want to overlook a Loyola team that’s off to a pretty good start and looking to pick up a notable win of their own.

-CHARLOTTE AT DAVIDSON.  This is a crosstown rivalry that actually has a meaningful storyline this year.  Both teams come in at 3-1, and both need big wins.  This one will help both on and off paper.

-RICE AT INCARNATE WORD.  Rice is off to a really good start.  A win in this one gets them to 5-1, and would also be their third true road win of the year.

-MEMPHIS VS IOWA (Emerald Coast Classic).  Both teams are coming off a loss and are looking to salvage the trip down to the Emerald Coast by picking up a notable neutral floor win.

-UT ARLINGTON AT FORDHAM.  Fordham is looking for their sixth straight win.  They’ll have to take down the preseason Sun Belt favorites in order to get it.

-EAST CAROLINA VS AIR FORCE (Savannah Invitational).  Both teams are coming off a loss, but are still off to fairly decent starts this year, and this is a chance to pick up what could be a notable neutral floor win.

-NORTH DAKOTA AT WRIGHT STATE.  It isn’t likely that either team will be in the bubble talk at the end of the year, but each only has one loss coming into this game.

-PROVIDENCE VS VIRGINIA (Emerald Coast Classic).  Providence is off to a surprisingly good start with just one loss, and Virginia has been blasting through everyone on their schedule.  If Providence can somehow win this then they’ll really get the attention of the nation, but that is much easier said than done.

-RICHMOND VS BOSTON COLLEGE (Barclays Center Classic).  Richmond fell in overtime to Maryland yesterday and needs to at least pick up this win today in order to keep themselves in the early picture.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE VS TOLEDO (Challenge in Music City).  Middle Tennessee picked up a huge win against a very good UNC Wilmington team yesterday, and can improve to 5-1 with a win over a pretty good Toledo team today, which would give them a rather impressive early profile.

-KANSAS STATE VS MARYLAND (Barclays Center Classic).  Both teams enter this game unbeaten.  For K State it is their first real test, whereas Maryland has already won at Georgetown and beat what looks to be a fairly decent Richmond team yesterday.  Still, it would be one of the bigger wins for either team up to this point.

-TCU VS WASHINGTON (Global Sports Classic).  TCU is off to a quiet 5-0 start.  If they win this game against a Washington team that’s looked pretty good since dropping their season opener, TCU will suddenly be a lot less quiet.

-IONA VS NEVADA (Great Alaska Shootout).  A win for Nevada would be their sixth straight since dropping the opener against a very good Saint Mary’s team. There are also rumblings that this 39th version of the Great Alaska Shootout championship could be the final one ever played, so there may be some historical significance attached to this game.

 

BUY GAMES

-Appalachian State @ Duke
-Lipbscomb @ Cincinnati
-NJIT @ Purdue
-Loyola MD @ Creighton
-Cornell @ Houston
-Utah Valley @ BYU
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ Michigan
-Chicago State @ Notre Dame
-Tulane @ Georgia Tech
-Seattle @ UCF
-Houston Baptist @ Marquette
-Reinhardt (nondiv1) @ Tennessee State

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Akron vs Mercer

Posted on November 26, 2016 by Chad

Akron vs Mercer, 7:30 PM Eastern, No TV or Streaming

The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to Savannah, Georgia tonight for the championship game of the inaugural Savannah Invitational.  Mercer knocked off East Carolina by 4 points last night while Akron defeated previously unbeaten Air Force by 9 in order to set up this meeting.  Head coach Bob Hoffman’s Mercer Bears improved to 4-1 with their win yesterday.  Their only loss was against Florida on November 13.  Ria’n Holland led the way in the win over ECU with 26 points including four made three-pointers.  He has been the team’s best scorer so far this season and Akron will need to find a way to contain him if they want to win this tournament.

Akron enters tonight’s game also at 4-1, with only a loss at Youngstown State on November 12 to blemish their resume.  Isaiah Johnson and Antino Jackson have led the way so far this season for the Zips, with Johnson having scored in double figures every game while Jackson has done so in each of the past three.  Sophomore Josh Williams also added a season-high 16 points in yesterday’s victory.  If Johnson and Jackson can continue to get big efforts form the rest of their teammates, Akron will be able to justify our preseason prediction for them to be among the best teams in the MAC and a potential candidate for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

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