Under the Radar Game of the Day: Georgia State vs Eastern Kentucky

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Chad

Georgia State vs Eastern Kentucky, 3:00 PM Eastern, Triple Crown Sports TV YouTube Stream

For the highlights of Jon Teitel’s trip to the 2K Classic, CLICK HERE.

This evening, the ball room in the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Cancun, Mexico will host the championship game of the Cancun Classic between Auburn and Purdue.  The winner of that game will be able to claim the title of Cancun Challenge champions — in the Riviera Division.  However, what is less well known is that the Cancun Challenge in fact crowns two champions.  It is the championship game of the four team event between the mid-major/Under the Radar schools, the Mayan Division, that is today’s Under the Radar Game of the Day.  Georgia State (a 74-53 winner over NJIT in yesterday’s semifinal) will be taking on Eastern Kentucky (91-82 overtime win over Idaho State).

Georgia State enters today’s game with an overall record of 2-2.  The Panthers’ two losses were in their two non-bracketed campus site games in this event, at Purdue and at Auburn.  In addition to yesterday’s win over former Team of the People NJIT, they also opened the season with a win over non-D1 Thomas.  We are still investigating whether that was an entire team or just a guy named Thomas.  😉  D’Marcus Simonds led the way for head coach Ron Hunter’s squad in yesterday’s win, with 26 points off the bench.  If he comes up with another performance like that today, Eastern Kentucky could be in a ton of trouble.

Eastern Kentucky is currently 2-3 on the season, having lost both of their non-bracketed games in this event as well (at Auburn and at Texas Tech).  They also lost a hard-fought game at home in overtime to a very good UNC-Wilmington team.  Their lone win outside of Mexico came over IUPUI at home on the first day of the season.  Nick Mayo led the way for the Colonels yesterday with a double-double of 21 points and 10 boards against Idaho State.  In fact, he has been the team’s top scorer in all but one game so far this season.  Another strong performance by Mayo and his teammates could send them home from their trip to Mexican with a championship trophy.

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JT at MSG for 2K: HoopsHD takes a road trip to the 2K Classic

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Jon Teitel

The 2K Classic is a 4-team college basketball tournament held every November at Madison Square Garden that benefits the Wounded Warrior Project. This year’s quartet of Marquette/Michigan/Pitt/SMU included an NCAA title game coach (John Beilein), a coach in a new city (Kevin Stallings), a coach who played/worked for the winningest coach ever (Steve Wojciechowski), and a coach who has not lost a game since 2012 (Tim Jankovich). HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel celebrated his birthday in belated fashion by heading to the Garden to watch 4 games in 26 hours.

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I showed up on Thursday evening for tip-off and headed to the press seating on the 200 level…which happened to be the only people who were sitting in the 200 level, as attendance for a weeknight doubleheader of 4 teams not based in New York was sparse. I sat down, turned to my right, and was thrilled to see 2 of my colleagues from the previous website I wrote articles for sitting next to me: I guess great minds think alike!

Game #1: SMU-Pitt
Basketball is often described as a game of runs but this was ridiculous. Pitt was up 20-15 midway through the 1st half, but then SMU went on a 16-0 run in a 4-minute span to open up a 31-20 lead, followed immediately by the Panthers going on a 13-0 run of their own to close the half and take a 33-31 lead. Pitt’s 2-man show of Michael Young/Jamel Artis combined for 42 PTS/12 REB, but they were no match for Semi Ojeleye. The Duke transfer had sat out for almost 2 full years while joining the Mustangs but he showed that he was worth the wait thanks to a 20-PT 2nd half that included a pair of nice alley-oops from Shake Milton, a pair of 3-PT shots, and a game-clinching sequence in the final minutes by blocking a shot/running the floor/getting the ball back from Milton for an easy layup. Coach Jankovich previously worked as an assistant to Coach Stallings at Vandy and apparently he learned a couple of new tricks while beating his old boss 76-67. He only has 9 scholarship players on the roster after taking over the reins from Larry Brown, but as long as 1 of those 9 is “Sem-Wow” then he has a good chance of winning the AAC.

Game #2: Marquette-Michigan
The nightcap got pretty ugly pretty quickly. Marquette made it a game for the 1st 7 minutes as it was tied at 15 apiece…and then Michigan proceeded to go on a 35-11 run to end the half with a 50-26 lead. The Wolverines are not a run-and-gun team as evident by their zero fast-break points all night long, but when you have 5 different guys who can make a shot from behind the arc and your defense holds the other team to 26.7 3P% then you are going to win a lot of games. The play of the day was a huge drive down the lane/1-hand dunk from Moritz “Mo” Wagner that brought the crowd to its feet en route to a 79-61 Michigan victory. DJ Wilson had 1 of the quietest double-doubles you will ever see with 10 PTS (3-7 FG)/12 REB, and Mark Donnal’s 15 PTS in 21 minutes off the bench was 1 short of the Golden Eagles’ subs’ entire production.

Game #3: Marquette-Pitt
As light a crowd as there was the previous night, it appeared that there were only about 500 people for this Friday 4:30PM EDT tip-off. It was eerily quiet and a prime opportunity for hecklers to ensure that the objects of their wrath were well within shouting distance. Coach Wojciechowski showed exactly how to make an in-game adjustment: he angrily called a timeout after an Artis jumper cut Marquette’s lead to 39-33 with 50 seconds left in the 1st half, then his team responded with a Sam Hauser 3, strong defense that forced a poor shot by Young, and a driving layup high off the glass by Andrew Rowsey with 3 seconds left for a 44-33 halftime lead that could have easily been a 3-PT lead had he been unable to get his team in gear. Rowsey had only made 1 shot through the 1st 3 games of his Marquette career but this was his coming-out party that featured a little of everything: making a 3 that bounced on the rim twice before going in, saving a loose ball from going out of bounds, driving the lane before making a beautiful behind-the-back bounce pass for a 3-PT play, drilling a deep 3 with a hand in face, baiting Chris Jones into fouling him on a 3 at the shot-clock buzzer with under 3 minutes left and then converting all 3 FTs to tie it at 75, etc. However, after all the great things Rowsey did while scoring 20 PTS in 28 minutes off the bench, he was unable to finish strong by dribbling the ball off his foot with 48 seconds left and then missing a 30-footer at the buzzer in a 78-75 loss. Artis had 21 PTS/7 REB in a winning effort but the story of the game was Young: he had a personal 10-0 run to turn a 59-49 deficit into a tie game, finished with a career-high 30 PTS, and had a huge BLK on a Rowsey drive to the hoop with 18 seconds left. I do not know if Young is going to play in the NBA but I would not bet against him leading the ACC in scoring this season. When I asked Wojo in the postgame press conference about trying to stop a guy who scores 10 straight points, he spent 30 seconds raving about all of the Pitt seniors.

Game #4: SMU-Michigan
We saved the worst for last: no, not the least-competitive game of the 4, a 76-54 Wolverines win that was painful to watch. The saddest sight of the weekend was every Michigan fan under age 10 who would get on the Jumbotron…and then proceed to dab. Go Blue, stop dabbing. The most surprising sight was the gentleman sitting 5 rows behind the SMU bench: Larry Brown! The ESPN telecast kept him up on the screen for about 60 seconds while the announcers talked about him and the whole thing just felt really awkward. Derrick Walton Jr. had a 24-hour rollercoaster: zero points on 0-4 FG on Thursday, followed by 23 PTS on a career-high 7 threes on Friday (1 short of the school record for most 3PM in a regular season game held by Garde Thompson/Aubrey Dawkins). His teammate Zak Irvin was named MVP with 16 PTS in each of his 2 games.

Conclusions
Marquette: I thought that this was going to be their year with a lot of seniors and if Rowsey keeps scoring 20 PPG then they can finish in the top half of the Big East, but my prediction is that they end up off the bubble.
Michigan: 4 games, 4 double-digit wins, if they are making their 3s they are unbeatable, I cannot WAIT for their road trip to UCLA on 12/10!
Pitt: they are 3-0 in games decided by 5 PTS or less due to their abundance of juniors/seniors, and if they can win at Maryland next Tuesday then they could easily be 12-1 entering ACC action, but is there another team in the nation with a more difficult 10-game stretch to open conference play (Notre Dame/Virginia/Syracuse/Louisville twice/Miami/NC State/Clemson/North Carolina/Duke)?
SMU: 1 of the only teams I can think of whose 2 best players (Ojeleye/Milton) are neither freshmen nor seniors, if these 2 stick around for 1 more year then I think they might win an NCAA tourney game in 2018.

 

[acx_slideshow name=”2K Classic 2016″]

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 22nd

Posted on November 22, 2016 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

For the latest Hoops HD Report Podcast – CLICK HERE

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-The biggest surprise yesterday by far was a Georgetown team that seemed to resemble an airplane crashing into a mountain. Instead, they pulled off what could be one of the single biggest season altering wins of the year when they knocked off Oregon, and did so rather impressively.  The final score was close, but Georgetown jumped out to a big lead and was able to fight off a furious Oregon comeback to hold on.  They will face Wsiconsin today, and if they get that one Georgetown will have gone from looking like a sub-NIT team to looking like a top 25 team in a period of just over 24 hours.

-Another big surprise was Northwestern.  It wasn’t so much the win over Texas, as it was how convincingly they won it.  That sets up a game today against what looks to be a very good Notre Dame team.  Northwestern has been close, but they’ve never made it all the way to the NCAAs.  We’ve seen one miracle in Chicago this year.  Could this be another one?  This isn’t necessarily a make or break game, but it is the kind of win that would greatly help their cause.

-Winthrop pulled off a rather notable “upset” at Illinois, but I’m really not sure how surprising that even is.  Winthrop is one of the better teams in the Big South, they had looked good (at least for thirty minutes) at Florida State this past Saturday, and Illinois isn’t exactly unbeatable.

-Valparaiso got a much needed neutral floor win against Alabama.  It may not be enough in and of itself if this is their only signature win of the season, but at least it is something.  They improve to 4-1 with the only loss being at Oregon.

-San Diego State improves to 3-1 with a really nice neutral-court win against California in Sacramento.  Cal had to sweat out UC Irvine, so this loss is hardly a huge surprise.  If anything, it means that Cal needs to get it together. As for San Diego State and the Mountain West, this should serve as a signature win that is desperately needed on both fronts.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TENNESSEE VS OREGON (Maui Invitational).  Oregon is coming off one of the more surprising losses of the season to Georgetown, and is looking to rebound against a Tennessee team that they should beat.  Then again, we Georgetown was a team we thought they should beat, so…

-TEXAS VS COLORADO (Legends Classic).  Both teams are coming off losses.  Colorado losing to Notre Dame isn’t too shocking, and Texas losing to Northwestern in and of itself isn’t the surprise of the year, but losing as handily as they did was rather unexpected.  The fact that this is a third place game is not important.  It’s still a chance for both teams to pick up a notable win on a neutral floor.

-AUBURN VS TEXAS TECH (Cancun Challenge).  Neither team has really been challenged yet, but both come in 3-0.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE VS CENTRAL MICHIGAN (Lone Star Showcase).  Central Michigan hasn’t beaten anyone of note yet, but a win today gets them to 5-0 and definitely places them on our radar.  For now.

-NOTRE DAME VS NORTHWESTERN (Legends Classic).  We say it every year about Northwestern.  Is this the year?  They are off to a fantastic start with their only loss being a close game at Butler.  They blasted Texas yesterday and can add another big win to their profile today.  Notre Dame was a team we had questions about at the beginning of the season, but many of those questions have been answered.  They are good.  This is one of the more intriguing games of the day, especially when you consider the storyline about how not much was expected out of either team, but both have done well and exceeded expectations.

-YALE AT PITTSBURGH.  Yale is coming off a loss at Virginia where they got pounded, but their profile is still solid and this would be another good win for them if they’re able to pull it off.

-TOLEDO AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE.  I’m a little surprised this wasn’t the UTR Game of the Day.  Both teams are off to good starts, and both should be major players in their conferences this year.  If everything falls right, it’s possible one or both of them are contending for an at-large spot.  That would mean being able to win games like this one today.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON VS UAB (Hall of Fame Classic).  GW has looked pretty good this season, but couldn’t get it done against Georgia yesterday.  It’s important that they pick up this neutral floor win today against a decent UAB team.

-SOUTH DAKOTA VS HOUSTON (Gulf Coast Showcase).  Neither team has beaten any solid opponents yet, but both come into this without a loss.

-ARKANSAS AT MINNESOTA.  Both teams are unbeaten, but for the most part untested.  It will be interesting to see what they do against each other.

-WISCONSIN VS GEORGETOWN (Maui Invitational).  Wisky was definitely expected to be here.  Georgetown was not.  Instead of highlighting to top twenty teams, we’re highlighting a Georgetown team that is coming off what could be a season altering win against Oregon.  After a slow start that saw a heartbreaking loss to Maryland and a headscratching loss to Arkansas State, if they can pick up another win in this tournament they are well on pace to building the kind of profile needed to make the NCAAs.

-PURDUE VS UTAH STATE (Cancun Challenge).  Utah State is 3-0, and Purdue, who played well against Villanova, hasn’t won anything other than home buy games so far.  It’s a great early test for both teams.

-LITTLE ROCK VS PEPPERDINE (Lone Star Showcase).  Both teams come in at 3-1 with Little Rock having just knocked off Saint Bonaventure.

-INDIANA AT FORT WAYNE.  This is the kind of road game that is rarely scheduled, but that should be.  Despite it being a “road game” Indiana will have a large contegency of fans.  It’s also a winnable game, which counts for more than double of what a home game counts for in the RPI.  So, the risk/reward for playing games like this actually favors the alpha program.  And, if Indiana does happen to lose, then so what??  It’s embarrassing for a couple of days, but that’s really all it is.  They move on and are still in great shape.

-GEORGIA VS KANSAS (Hall of Fame Classic).  Georgia has won three straight since losing the opener to Clemson.  They’re probably overmatched tonight, but as far as making the NCAAs a win really helps them, but a loss won’t hurt them at all.  And if they pull off the long shot win, it means instant relevance.

-OKLAHOMA STATE VS NORTH CAROLINA (Maui Invitational).  Both teams are 4-0, but North Carolina has looked much better so far.  This may be the toughest test for the Tarheels up to this point, but from what we’ve seen they’re more than capable of passing it.  For Oklahoma State, it’s a longshot win, but if they pull it off they’re instantly nationally relevant.

 

BUY GAMES

-Stony Brook @ Maryland
-South Carolina State @ Syracuse
-Grambling State @ Virginia
-South Carolina Upstate at Charlotte.  Charlotte is 3-0
-Sam Houston State @ Georgia Tech
-IUPUI @ Marquette.  I’m gonna put a slight upset alert on this one.  IUPUI played Michigan tough, then blasted both Howard and Eastern Michigan.
-Robert Morris @ Kansas State
-McNeese State @ Memphis
-New Orleans @ USC
-UC Santa Barbara @ SMU
-Stetson @ Air Force
-San Jose State @ Saint Mary’s
-Long Beach State @ Washington

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: SIU Edwardsville at Arkansas State

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Chad

SIU Edwardsville at Arkansas State, 8:30 PM Eastern, astateredwolves.com ($4.95 fee)

For our latest HoopsHD Report video podcast, CLICK HERE.

The Under the Radar Game of the Day comes from Jonesboro, Arkansas as the Sun Belt’s Arkansas State Red Wolves welcome in the Ohio Valley’s SIU Edwardsville Cougars for a non-conference matchup.  SIUE enters the game tonight with a record of 2-2 on the young season, having started things off with a 2-1 performance in Hawai’i at the Rainbow Classic, picking up wins over Hawai’i and Florida Atlantic, but falling to Texas State.  They also lost their last time out, at home to in-state rival Southern Illinois.  Sophomore Tre Harris is definitely worth keeping an eye on for the Cougars.  Despite not being a starter, he has led the team in scoring in 3 of their first 4 games and picked up a double-double in the fourth.  He was particularly impressive against Southern Illinois, scoring a career high 24 points including a career high 5 three pointers.  Despite only playing 12 minutes in the team’s opener, he has been close to 30 minutes in each of the last three games and that time may increase even more if he keeps playing this well.

The Cougars will have their work cut out for them tonight in Jonesboro, as Arkansas State appears to be this year’s early season noise-maker out of the Sun Belt (an honor that was shared by Little Rock and Texas-Arlington last season).  Although the Red Wolves did start the season with a loss at North Dakota State, they have won four straight since that time, including a win at Georgetown and a neutral court win over a very good Chattanooga team.  Devin Carter (25 points against Georgetown) and Donte Thomas (a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists against Chattanooga) are both having great seasons so far and will both be worth watching tonight and as the season moves forward.  In fact, it would not be a surprise if Thomas picks up a couple of triple-doubles this season (he did get one last year against South Alabama).  Tonight’s games is the first of a three game homestand for the Red Wolves which will include a home game this weekend against a very good Lehigh team, and a potential second appearance in the UTR Game of the Day.  In fact, if they can keep up their winning ways we may be discussing a lot more about this team all season.  But for now, all their concentration has to be tonight’s game and the SIU Edwardsville Cougars.

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The Hoops HD Report: November 21st

Posted on November 21, 2016 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel review some of the big games and surprises from this past week, including UConn’s struggles, Michigan State’s controversial ending against FGCU, Ole Miss and Creighton’s performance in the Paradise Jam, Xavier winning the Tire Pros Invitational, Oregon’s surprising loss to Georgetown, Saint Mary’s big start, and much more.  They also look ahead to some of the big games coming up this week.

 

And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…

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News, Notes and Higlighted Games: Monday, Nov 21st

Posted on November 21, 2016 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

Happy Feast Week!  Thanksgiving is traditionally synonymous with football, but there are actually more college basketball games this week, and probably more important games that end up impacting how the season shapes out, then any other week of the season.

We will see a lot of exempt tournaments this week.  The one thing I would impress upon everything is that third place games and fifth place games are not weighed any less than if those two teams were playing in a regular OOC neutral floor game.  Games are games.  If a team picks up a quality win in a fifth place game, it’s the same as doing it as if it were on a neutral site in a non-tournament game.

CLICK HERE for our latest and admittedly way too early Bracket Projections

CLICK HERE for Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-WOFFORD VS VERMONT (Gulf Coast Showcase).  A win gets Vermont out to an impressive and attention grabbing 4-1 start.

-TENNESSEE VS WISCONSIN (Maui Invitational).  We think Wisconsin is a top ten caliber team, but up to this point their only wins have been home buy wins.  Doing well in this tournament will give their profile some high quality wins.

-LOYOLA CHICAGO VS WASHINGTON STATE (Paradise Jam – 5th place game).  Both teams come into this game with just one loss, and have a chance to add another neutral floor win to their profiles.

-GREEN BAY VS UMKC.  We didn’t expect much out of UMKC this year, but they come into this game with just one loss, and they’re beginning to grab our attention.

-GEORGETOWN VS OREGON (Maui Invitational).  Oregon is a Final Four caliber team, but as of now their best win is at home against Valpo.  They can really add to their profile if they do well in this tournament.  They face a Georgetown team that sucks appears to be spiraling out of control.

-KENT STATE VS SOUTH DAKOTA (Gulf Coast Showcase).  Both teams are unbeaten, and Kent State is a potential bubble crasher that we have our eyes on.

-ILLINOIS STATE AT TCU.  We like Illinois State this year despite their early loss to Murray State.  They have a chance to pick up what may be turn out to be a decent road win against a 3-0 TCU team.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S VS. NC STATE (Paradise Jam – 3rd place game).  Both teams are coming off losses and looking to add a possible notable neutral floor win to their profiles.

-BELMONT VS FLORIDA (game in Tampa).  Belmont is always tough, but we have some questions about them this year.  If they can pull off a win in this game, our questions will probably be answered.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON VS GEORGIA (Hall of Fame Classic, Kansas City).  After a roller coaster of an offseason, GW is out to a 3-0 start and they have a chance to pick up a notable neutral floor win today against a pretty good Georgia team.  The winner will most likely face Kansas, and the loser will most likely face UAB.

-NOTRE DAME VS COLORADO (Legends Classic).  Both teams are unbeaten and both are fighting for a place on the college basketball map.  Neither team has done much other than win buy games up to this point.

-MONTANA STATE VS RICE (Hardwood Showcase, Houston).  Both teams come in with decent records, so this one is worth keeping an eye on.

-CENTRAL MICHIGAN VS PEPPERDINE (Lone Star Showcase).  Neither team has any notable wins yet, but both come in at 3-0.

-OLE MISS VS CREIGHTON (Paradise Jam – Championship).  Both teams are unbeaten, and Creighton has managed to rack up some pretty good wins already.  Ole Miss is still flying low on the radar, but a win in this one will put them on the national scene.

-OKLAHOMA STATE VS UCONN (Maui Invitational).  Oklahoma State hasn’t knocked off any heavyweights yet, but they do come into this unbeaten.  UConn has played three lightweights, lost to two of them, and barely beaten the other one.  They need some wins in this tournament just to get things turned around.

-TEXAS VS NORTHWESTERN (Legends Classic).  Texas is unbeaten so far, but has only played buy games.  This is their first real test against a Northwestern team who’s only loss was a close one at Butler

-SAINT LOUIS VS BYU (MGM Grand Main Event).  BYU looks to remain unbeaten.

-UAB VS KANSAS (Hall of Fame Classic, Kansas City).  UAB looked pretty good in their last game despite losing a key player for the season to an injury, but they look to be way overmatched in this one.

-UC DAVIS VS SACRAMENTO STATE. Both Sacramento-area teams are playing each other in the inaugural collegiate basketball game in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center. UC-Davis picked up 2 wins in the Cable Car Classic plus a non-DI win; the Hornets have a pair of losses against Big 12 powers Colorado and Nebraska along with a non-DI win of their own.

-CALIFORNIA VS SAN DIEGO STATE.  This is a good OOC game that both teams could use since neither has done anything other than win buy games yet. This is the second game of a doubleheader that is being played in Sacramento’s brand new Golden 1 Center.

-GEORGE MASON VS HOUSTON (Gulf Coast Showcase). Kind of an oddity that the only two teams from major conferences face each other in the opening round. Then again, it’s easy to see why the puppet thought this was a buy game – George Mason appears to be mismatched against a Houston team that should be favored to win this tournament.

-NORTH CAROLINA VS CHAMINADE (Non D-I – Maui Invitational).  This will likely be the biggest mismatch of the tournament, and perhaps of the entire week.

-VALPARAISO VS ALABAMA (MGM Grand Main Event).  Valpo is good, but they really need a good win on their profile and this is one of the few chances they have to get one.  It’s a winnable game against a decent Alabama team that they really need to win.

 

BUY GAMES 

-Western Carolina @ Ohio State
-Winthrop @ Illinois.  Watch out for Winthrop, who is one of the bettter teams in the Big South
-Norfolk State @ Butler (nonbracketed game – Las Vegas Invitational)
-Bucknell @ Vanderbilt (nonbracketed game – Las Vegas Invitational)
-Northern Colorado @ Arizona (nonbracketed game – Las Vegas Invitational)

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