News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Nov 20th

Posted on November 20, 2016 by David Griggs

Below is a rundown of all of today’s action:

-Saint Mary’s got off to a hot start against Dayton on the road yesterday and threatened to run away with the game. They led by as much as 20 points in the 2nd half before Dayton mounted a furious comeback to cut the deficit to 2 in the last minute of the game. They had a chance to tie the game with under 20 seconds to play, but an offensive foul ended the Flyers’ hopes and Saint Mary’s got a critical 61-57 win at UD Arena.

-Texas Southern got another road win for the SWAC last night; they were able to get a game-winning 3-pt shot to pull off a 77-76 win at La Salle. Could this be the year that Mike Davis’s team returns to the NCAA Tournament?

-Wagner’s win at UConn is starting to look more and more like a complete fluke. Fairfield went on the road and beat the Seahawks 70-64 in overtime. That win gives the Stags a 3-0 record to start the season.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NEW HAMPSHIRE AT WEST VIRGINIA.  The Team of the People’s quest for greatness continues!!  They’re coming off a disappointing loss, but have a tremendous opportunity today against a top 25 team in West Virginia!!  #RankUNH!!  #GoDancingOrDie!!

-ARKANSAS STATE AT CHATTANOOGA.  Both teams come into this game at 3-1.  We like Chattanooga’s tournament chances, but the margin for error is small.

-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT HIGH POINT.  Neither team will likely be in the picture come March, but both teams come into this game with a pretty good 3-1 start.

-YALE AT VIRGINIA.  This is technically a buy game, but Yale has two fairly nice wins already.  They’re likely overmatched in this one, but we still think they’re a tournament caliber team.

-RHODE ISLAND AND DUKE (Hall of Fame Tip-Off).  Rhody picked up an impressive win against a pretty good Cincinnati team yesterday, and will face a very though Duke team that has been hit hard by injuries, especially down low.  If Duke can get healthy they’ll be one of the best teams in the country, but don’t be surprised to see them struggle in the meantime.

-PRINCETON AT LEHIGH.  Neither team has won a game yet, but Lehigh’s two losses were a missed last second shot at Xavier, and an overtime loss at Yale.  Princeton’s only loss was at BYU.  So, even though both are winless, don’t be surprised if they both end up having big seasons.

-DAVIDSON VS ARIZONA STATE (Tire Pros Invitational).  Both teams are trying to pick up their second win in this tournament and go back home with some momentum.

-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT UNC WILMINGTON.  Both teams are unbeaten.  East Tennessee State will be one of the better teams in the SoCon along with Chattanooga, and UNCW should be one of the better teams in the Colonial, and we think they may be good enough to make the NCAAs regardless of what happens in the conference tournament.

-CINCINNATI VS PENN STATE (Hall of Fame Tip-Off).  Both teams are looking to rebound after losing their openers.

-UTEP VS MISSISSIPPI STATE (Charleston Classic).  Both teams are looking to pick up their second win in the tournament and walk out with some momentum.

-JACKSONVILLE AT SOUTH ALABAMA.  Both teams are under the radar and will likely remain there for the entire season, but as of now Jacksonville comes in at 3-1 and South Alabama is a perfect 4-0.

-CLEMSON VS OKLAHOMA (Tire Pros Invitational).  This is the third place game, and one more chance to pick up a decent win away from home.

-COLORADO STATE AT STANFORD.  Both teams are unbeaten, and although not many of us were expecting much out of either team, they’ve both looked pretty good in the few games they’ve played.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S VS OLE MISS (Paradise Jam).  Both teams are unbeaten, and although there wasn’t much expected out of either team coming into the season we’ll keep our eyes on them until they give us a reason not to.

-XAVIER VS NORTHERN IOWA (Tire Pros Invitiational).  This is the championship game.  Both teams are unbeaten, and both have knocked off some pretty good teams along the way, so it’s a good opportunity for both teams.

-WAKE FOREST AT CHARLESTON (Charleston Classic).  Both teams come into this at 3-1, and both appear to be much improved from last season.

-NORTH CAROLINA STATE VS CREIGHTON (Paradise Jam).  Creighton already has one big win this season and they can continue to add to their profile by picking up some wins away from home in this tournament.  Some of us like NC State.  Some of us don’t.  Either way, this is a huge chance for them to pick up an early statement win.

-VILLANOVA VS UCF (Charleston Classic).  Both teams have pretty much rolled through this tournament, and through the rest of thier schedules so far.  We expected that from Nova, but not so much from UCF.  If UCF wins this game, they’ll go from not being talked about or thought about at all to being a huge national story.

 

BUY GAMES

-Niagara @ Rutgers
-Towson @ Maryland.  Both teams unbeaten
-The Citadel @ Iowa State
-UMES @ Wichita State
-Libpscomb @ Fordham
-Florida A&M @ Air Force
-Detroit @ Florida State
-UTRGV @ Iowa
-Hampton @ Kansas State
-Gulf Coast @ Michigan State
-Northern Arizona @ Washington
-Iona @ Nevada
-Duquesne @ Kentucky
-Long Beach State @ UCLA

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Nov 19th

Posted on November 19, 2016 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

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

-We had some very exciting games yesterday, but nothing too cataclysmic or unexpected with a few exceptions.

-Last year at this time, we felt that Andy Enfield was on the hot seat at USC.  The Trojans had been bad for several  years in a row and showed no signs of coming out of it.  They had a fantastic year last year and surprised just about all of us.  They came into this year, and because of what they lost we again ignored them.  Well, last night they picked up a very impressive road win at Texas A&M and remain unbeaten.  They’re not a top ten team, but they’re definitely a relevant team.  That was an NCAA Tournament caliber win that they picked up yesterday.

-After struggling against Missouri and causing all of us to question how good they actually were, Xavier looked impressive against Clemson yesterday.  They’ll face a Northern Iowa team in the finals of what used to be called the Puerto Rico Tip-Off that has been somewhat surprising this year.  They overcame an 18 point deficit to beat Oklahoma in overtime yesterday.

-UCF doesn’t have anything on paper that makes you jump up and down just yet, but if you watch this team play you’ll see that on the court they are very good.  They’ve blown through their schedule so far and advanced to the finals of the Charleston Classic where they will face Villanova tomorrow.  Now, if they pick up THAT win, then they’ll have the attention of the nation.

-Purdue also came into their game against Georgia State with a hangover from their loss to Villanova earlier this week. They were trailing the Panthers 56-44 with 7:08 remaining in the game, but they held Georgia State scoreless the rest of the way and scored the final 20 points of the game en route to a 64-56 victory. This was a nonbracketed game that is part of the upcoming Cancun Challenge, although both teams are in separate brackets (Georgia State in the Mayan division, Purdue in the Riviera division).

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-PENN STATE VS DUKE (Hall of Fame Tip-Off).  This event features one national title contender, two ranked teams, and Penn State.  Okay!!  I guess it’s a chance for Penn State to really make some noise and catapult themselves onto the scene, but in reality you can probably just skip this game.

-SAINT MARY’S AT DAYTON.  This is one of the better games of the day.  Dayton already has a notable road win against Alabama, and SMC is facing their first big road test.  They do have an impressive and decisive home win against Nevada.  It will be interesting to see how these two fare against each other.

-LAMAR AT FRESNO STATE.  Lamar has a win at Oregon State and can improve to 3-0 with a win today.

-CINCINNATI VS RHODE ISLAND (Hall of Fame Tip-Off).  Both these teams are in the rankings, both are getting their first real test of the season and have a chance to pick up a quality win away from home, and the winner will most likely face Duke tomorrow.

-PENN AT MIAMI FL.  Both teams unbeaten.

-GREEN BAY AT MURRAY STATE.  Murray State is a team to watch.  They have a win over a very good Illinois State team, and their loss was on the road against a good Middle Tennessee team.

-TOLEDO AT WRIGHT STATE.  A win for Wright State gets them to 3-0, but they’ll be tested today.

-TENNESSEE STATE AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE.  Both teams are under the radar, but both are unbeaten and have looked really good up to this point.  It’s underexposed, but it really is one of the more intriguing games of the day.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT BELMONT.  See Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day

-CHATTANOOGA VS CENTRAL ARKANSAS.  Chattanooga already has a win at Tennessee and shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up their second road win of the season today.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT WYOMING.  I don’t know how long Wyoming will be able to stay in the picture, but they are unbeaten and already have a win against a pretty respectable Montana team, so we’ll keep our eyes on them until they give us a reason not to.

 

BUY GAMES

-Savannah State @ Memphis
-Bucknell @ Butler
-Eastern Kentucky @ Texas Tech
-Liberty @ Indiana
-VMI @ Virginia Tech
-Louisiana Tech at Nebraska
-Idaho State @ Utah State
-Coastal Carolina @ BYU

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Under the Radar Game of the Day: Western Kentucky at Belmont

Posted on November 19, 2016 by Chad

Western Kentucky at Belmont, 8:00 PM Eastern, ovcsports.com

The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to Nashville, Tennessee this evening for a non-conference matchup between Western Kentucky, out of Conference USA, and Belmont, out of the Ohio Valley Conference.  Head coach Rick Standbury’s visiting Hilltoppers enter play tonight a perfect 2-0 on the season, having scored home wins over Alabama State and Jacksonville State.  His team has been led so far by a trio of transfers, Que Johnson from Washington State, Junior Lomomba from Providence and Pancake Thomas from Hartford.  All three have hit double digits at least once so far, and when combined with top returnee Justin Johnson (17 point and 10 boards last time out), have helped form a very solid core group of players for the Hilltoppers.

WKU will certainly be tested tonight in their first road game as Rick Byrd’s Belmont team was our preseason pick to win the Ohio Valley Conference.  The Bruins have only played one game so far this season, falling at Vanderbilt 80-66.  Evan Bradds led the way for the Bruins in their loss, scoring 19 points while pulling down 8 rebounds.  Amanze Egekeze added 18 points and Austin Luke dished out 6 assists in the losing effort as well.  Despite the 14 point loss, Belmont actually outscored Vanderbilt in the second half of the game and should be ready tonight for the Hilltoppers in what could be one of the best games on this evening’s entire college basketball schedule.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Friday, Nov 18th

Posted on November 18, 2016 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day featuring the 2K Classic Visitor’s Bracket – CLICK HERE

-We had another busy night last night, and we’ll begin with the Team of the People!!  New Hampshire put on a spectacular and gutsy display of basketball in the final ten minutes of their game against Abilene Christian where they totally outplayed their opponents!!  It’s all about how you finish, and they clearly finished looking like a top 25 team!!  #RankUNH.  Now, we can get into unimportant trivialities about what happened in the first thirty minutes of the game, but when it comes to the Team of the People, we here at Hoops HD are NOT concerned with trivialities!!  #GoDancingOrDie!!

-Okay, as for the 350 schools that are not the Team of the People, we are very much concerned with the entire game.  Xavier has played three games.  They looked weak in their first game, great in their second game, and abysmal in their third game.  All were wins, but sweating out Missouri and actually needing overtime to beat them with the aid of a bizarre play at the end, that’s a sign things are not going well.  Xavier has Clemson today, who isn’t ranked and isn’t believed to be as good, but has so far played better teams than Xavier and looked much better against them.  Don’t be surprised if Clemson knocks them off and springboards themselves onto the national picture early on.

-Lehigh, who nearly knocked off Xavier in their opener, followed that up with another tough road game at Yale, who was coming off the big road win at Washington.  This was a very exciting game between two good teams, and it’s unfortunate that it wasn’t more highly exposed.  At the end of regulation Lehigh had tied the game, and in a battle for a loose ball called timeout.  The problem was they didn’t have any timeouts, so Yale went to the freethrow line with a chance to hit a game winning freethrow, but missed.  The second chance wasn’t enough for Lehigh, and for the second time they lose a road game to a good team that they really had a chance to win.  Yale improves to 2-0 and has a pretty good looking profile early on, and that’s important since there is now a tournament in the Ivy League.  The first place team needs to make sure they’re in a position to get an at-large bid if they want in now.

-In the Gavitt Tip-Off games, Seton Hall picked up a pretty impressive win at Iowa.  The Pirates are off to a great start.  Marquette fell behind by about 20 to Michigan seemingly before the game even tipped off and the Wolverines rolled over them in a very impressive looking win, and Rutgers won at DePaul to remain unbeaten so far.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-DAVIDSON VS MISSOURI (Tire Pros Invitational).  Mizzou isn’t expected to be good at all this year, but they did come very close to upsetting Xavier in the first game.  The loser of this game is kind of behind the eight ball.  There’s still the entire rest of the season left, but it’s not the best start to lose two straight.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Paradise Jam).  Both teams come into this event unbeaten and have a chance to build up their profile if they do well in the tournament.

-VILLANOVA VS WAKE FOREST (Charleston Classic).  Both teams come in unbeaten.  Nova struggled some against Western Michigan, but Wake rolled in their game.  A win for Wake would be a very big and very much needed boost for a program that has struggled in recent years.

-CLEMSON VS XAVIER (Tire Pros Invitational).  Clemson rolled over Davidson yesterday, whereas Xavier had to sweat out what we think is a pretty bad Missouri team.  Xavier is highly ranked, but so far Clemson has looked better against better teams.  A win here would be huge for a Tiger team that desperately wants to make the NCAAs.

-OLE MISS VS ORAL ROBERTS (Paradise Jam).  A win keeps Ole Miss unbeaten and gives them the opportunity to take on the winner of Loyola or Saint Joe’s.

-MONTANA VS NC STATE (Paradise Jam).  NC State is the favorite in this tournament, and they open against a winless Montana team.

-USC AT TEXAS A&M.  Not many people are all that excited about USC, but they do come into this game 2-0 and will gain quite a bit of attention if they pull off this road win.

-WINTHROP AT FLORIDA STATE.  This is a buy game, but Winthrop is unbeaten and they are the Big South favorites, so we’ll go ahead and highlight it.

-MARQUETTE VS PITTSBURGH (2K Classic). Both teams lost their openers last night, but the opportunity is still there to get a decent win away from home.

-MONMOUTH AT SYRACUSE.  This game would have had a much more intriguing storyline had a last second shot not fallen for South Carolina to defeat Monmouth, but the goal is the same.  They need a win that will impress the selection committee, and this would certainly qualify.

-BOISE STATE VS MISSISSIPPI STATE (Charleston Classic).  There isn’t much that’s expected for either team, and a loss would probably mean speeding up the slide out of the picture.

-NORTHERN IOWA VS OKLAHOMA (Tire Pros Invitational).  We didn’t think either team would be an NCAA Tournaemnt team, but both are unbeaten and both have looked good in their first couple of games.  A win means continuing that momentum, as well as helping build their resume.

-MICHIGAN VS SMU (2K Classic).  Both teams are 3-0, and both have looked really good so far this year.  This appears to be a match-up between two good teams, and the kind of win that would look good on an NCAA Tournament resume.

-OHIO AT GEORGIA TECH.  Ohio has looked really good so far, especially in their last game.  We think they’re good enough to have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament without an automatic bid, but if that’s true then this is the kind of game they need to be able to win.

-SIENA AT KANSAS.  Siena was a preseason dark horse of ours, but they’re coming off a road loss to George Washington that they should have won if they’re as good as we think they are.  We never thought they were good enough to win at Kansas, but if it somehow happens, it’s the kind of win that can earn them an NCAA berth.

-WASHINGTON STATE VS CREIGHTON (Paradise Jam).  Wazzu is still in building mode, but they do come into this event at 2-0 and if they were to pick up some big wins it would really kickstart their season.  Creighton is coming off a big home win against Wisconsin, and they can keep their season on the right track by continuing their winning ways in this tournament.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT MINNESOTA.  We’re not really expecting either team to be in the picture come March, but both come into this game unbeaten and we’ll keep our eyes on both of them until they give us a reason not to.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT NEW MEXICO.  The first leg of this OOC rivalry.  A win for New Mexico gets them to 3-0.

-UCF VS CHARLESTON (Charleston Classic).  UCF has been surprisingly good so far, and picking up a win over the unbeaten host will continue to boost their momentum and their profile.

-OREGON STATE AT NEVADA.  Oregon State is coming off a home loss to Lamar, and things won’t get any easier as they go on the road to face what we think is one of the better teams in the Mountain West.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT HAWAI’I.  UNC is looking to pick up their second true road win of the season.

 

BUY GAMES

-South Carolina State @ South Carolina
-Mississippi Valley State @ Michigan State
-Georgia State @ Purdue (Cancun Challenge)
-Loyola MD @ Notre Dame
-Jacksonville State @ TCU
-Binghamton @ VCU
-UT Arlington @ Arkansas.  UTA is the Sun Belt favorite
-North Florida @ LSU
-Norfolk State @ Vanderbilt
-Detroit @ Illinois
-Coppin State @ Utah
-FGCU @ Baylor
-Bryant @ Gonzaga
-Ball State @ Alabama
-Sacred Heart @ Arizona

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Under the Radar Games of the Day: 2K Classic Visitor’s Bracket

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Chad

Gardner-Webb vs Eastern Michigan, 12:00 PM, no TV/stream
Howard at IUPUI, 2:30 PM, espn3

Last night, SMU defeated Pittsburgh and Michigan rolled over Marquette to advance to this evening’s championship game of the 2K Classic in New York City.  What most casual fans do not know is that the 2K Classic is actually a four game exempt tournament for each participant.  Each of the four teams in New York City this week also host this season two games on their home court against two of Gardner-Webb, Eastern Michigan, Howard and/or IUPUI.  Those four teams are meeting today and tomorrow at IUPUI’s home court in Indianapolis for their own four team tournament, with the semifinals taking place today and standing out as our Under the Radar Games of the Day.

In the first game, Gardner-Webb will be battling our preseason MAC West Division favorite, Eastern Michigan.  Both teams enter the game at 0-2 against D1 teams, with both their losses coming to SMU and Pittsburgh (Eastern Michigan does have a non-D1 win against Rochester).  Gardner-Webb was blown out in both games, though Laquincy Rideau did drop 23 points on Pitt and David Efiayani reached double digits in scoring in both games, coming off the bench.  Eastern Michigan, despite also being handled easily by SMU, played very well against Pittsburgh, taking the Panthers to double overtime before finally falling.  Ray Lee has been incredibly impressive so far, scoring 27 against Pitt and 26 against SMU.  Also keep an eye on James Thompson, who scored 19 points while pulling down an impressive 17 rebounds in the win over Rochester.

The second semifinal features the host team for these four games, IUPUI, against one of the top teams heading into the season in the MEAC, Howard.  IUPUI is 0-2 on the season having lost at Eastern Kentucky and at Michigan (their trip to Marquette is next week).  Darell Combs has been their top scorer, putting up over 20 points in each of his team’s first two games.  The Jaguars have a decent chance at getting their first win today, as Howard’s star player, James “J-Byrd” Daniel, remains out with a foot injury.  Daniel led the nation in scoring last year with a 27.1 points per game average.  However, he has not played yet this season (his team is 0-2, losing at Michigan and at Marquette) and could be out up to four more weeks.  Without J-Byrd, the Bison will need to rely on players like Damon Collins and Solomon Mangham, their top scorers form their first two games.

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Throwback Thursday: The New Wave of Exempt Tournaments

Posted on November 17, 2016 by John Stalica

For today’s News and Notes from David Griggs – CLICK HERE

For today’s UTR Game of the Day (Abilene Christian at New Hampshire) – CLICK HERE

Thanksgiving commemorates a time where we recall early settlers from Britain giving thanks for a bountiful harvest following a very harsh winter in colonial Massachusetts. In recent years, we’ve also become more thankful for a bounty of college basketball games in and around Thanksgiving (and the occasional Christmas for teams who travel to either Hawai’i or Las Vegas). While exempt tournaments originally began in places like Maui, Alaska and Madison Square Garden (the heyday of the Preseason NIT), we have now seen places like Orlando (Old Spice/Advocare Classic), Puerto Rico, the Bahamas (Battle 4 Atlantis), Charleston, Las Vegas in November and Anaheim (Wooden Legacy) also host these events featuring teams from all the major conferences and even a few under-the-radar conferences. We have also seen events in places like Chicago (the Chicago Invitational) come and go as well.

For starters, ESPN Wide World of Sports has hosted the Orlando Classic/Old Spice Classic/Advocare Invitational since 2006. This tournament is actually hosted by the Metro Atlantic Conference; the conference has had 1 team in each tournament since its inception. Monmouth had by far the best showing with a 3rd place finish last year thanks to wins over Notre Dame and USC. Gonzaga is the only two-time winner of this event; they have won all 6 games in this event thanks to tournament championships in 2008 and 2012 (they can also go for a 3rd title this year as well). Dayton comes in a close 2nd – they won the Old Spice Classic in 2011 but were spanked by their old friends from Xavier in the championship of the Advocare Invitational last season. Kansas also beat Michigan State in the 2014 Old Spice championship, although both teams were not in their customary Top 10 spots at the time.

Anaheim is now going to be hosting an exempt tournament for the tenth consecutive season. It began as the 76 Classic in 2007 through 2010, was branded as the Anaheim Classic in 2011 and the DirecTV Classic in 2012. For the first 6 years, all games were played at the Anaheim Convention Center. Ever since 2013, it has been renamed the Wooden Legacy. It now features the first 2 rounds at Cal State-Fullerton’s Titan Gym and the final round at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The tournaments have been hosted by the Big West Conference since its inception. This tournament has featured 9 different champions, although one could argue that its most marquee field was last year that involved Michigan State, Providence and Arizona. This year promises to be even better with teams like UCLA, Dayton, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M all participating.

There are also 2 different locales that also feature their games played in a hotel ballroom – Cancun and the Bahamas (Atlantis). The Battle 4 Atlantis has a fairly recent tradition since 2011, but unlike the previous events listed above, this event has played host (or will play host) to just about every major program in Division I. Duke? Check. Kansas? Check. Villanova? Check. Michigan State? They’ll check it off this year. UCLA? North Carolina? You get the picture. So naturally, the first team to win this event was Harvard back in 2011. Their path included Utah, Florida State and Central Florida. The host conference for this event is Conference USA. Also noteworthy here is that the last 2 champions of this event have also gone on to the Final 4 – Syracuse in 2015 and Wisconsin in 2014.

As for the state of Hawai’i, what was originally the Rainbow Classic has now evolved into the Diamond Head Classic around Christmas time. In its current format, Hawai’i has been part of every single tournament in the same manner that Chaminade has been the host school for the Maui Invitational. Two of the past champions have also been part of the Final Four at the end of the year – Butler in 2010 (the year of their second appearance in the national title game) and Oklahoma last season.

 

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