NEWS AND NOTES
-For our latest Under the Radar Podcast, where we kick off the #RankUNH movement – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Abilene Christian and New Hampshire – CLICK HERE
-Nothing too cataclysmic happened yesterday. For a minute I thought we were going to get to talk about a big early road win for Northwestern, and question yet again if this was finally putting them on the path to make an NCAA Tournament, but Butler ended up pulling it out in a thrilling game.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-CLEMSON VS DAVIDSON (Tire Pros Invitational). Both teams have potential this year, and the momentum and quality wins they can pick up from doing well in this tournament will go a long way. That means winning today.
-WESTERN MICHIGAN VS VILLANOVA (Charleston Classic). Villanova appears to be undermatched in this tournament and should run away with it.
-XAVIER VS MISSOURI (Tire Pros Invitational). Both teams come in without a loss, but Xavier clearly appears to be the better team. Xavier looks like they may end up with a protected seed whereas Mizzou may struggle to finish in the top 200.
-WAKE FOREST VS UTEP (Charleston Classic). We weren’t expecting much out of either team, but both are coming into this tournament without a loss and both have the opportunity to make a statement and pick up some quality wins.
-LONG BEACH STATE AT LOUISVILLE. This is an unbracketed game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, and Louisville is clearly the superior team. Long Beach is playing their typical killer OOC schedule, but they should be a factor in Big West play later on.
-NORTHERN IOWA VS ARIZONA STATE (Tire Pros Invitational). Neither team has a loss yet, and like all the rest of the teams they can pick up some notable wins in this tournament.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE VS UCF (Charleston Classic). We’re not too excited about either team, but as of now neither has a loss.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT FLORIDA. Neither team has a loss yet, and Florida looks like they’re a tournament caliber team.
-PROVIDENCE AT OHIO STATE. We think Providence is rebuilding, but they did look good in their first game and come into this one without a loss. Ohio State also comes in unbeaten, but is also untested.
-SMU VS PITTSBURGH (2k Classic). Both teams are 2-0, and although this is the biggest test for both teams so far, they’ve both looked pretty good up to this point.
-TULANE VS OKLAHOMA (Tire Pros Invitational). Oklahoma is rebuilding, but they come into this without a loss and have the chance to pick up some wins of note in this tournament.
-LEHIGH AT YALE. Yale is coming off a big win at Washington, and Lehigh is coming off a near win at Xavier, so it should be a competitive game.
-BOISE STATE AT CHARLESTON (Charloeston Classic). The host team goes up against a 1-0 Boise State team.
-TROY AT UAB. It’s early, but Troy can pick up a notable road win and improve to 3-0 if they can pull this off.
-RUTGERS AT DEPAUL. I’d be shocked if either team is in the picture come March, but as of now neither team has lost a game.
-SETON HALL AT IOWA. Iowa is rebuilding, and this would give them a huge boost if they can knock off what appears to be a good Seton Hall team. Both teams come in at 2-0.
-VALPARAISO AT OREGON. We really like this Valpo team, but despite being 3-0 they haven’t looked as good as we think they can play. This is a huge long shot, but if they were to manage a win in this game it puts them strongly in play for an at-large bid if they happen to slip up in their conference tournament. Oregon is looking to rebound from their loss at Baylor earlier in the week.
-MICHIGAN VS MARQUETTE (2k Classic). Both teams come in at 2-0. Marquette has looked very good so far and can pick up another notable win in this one.
BUY GAMES
-Arkansas State @ Georgetown (Maui Invite Campus Game)
-Furman @ Georgia (Hall of Fame Campus Game)
-Saint Mary’s MD (nondiv1) @ Maryland
-Pine Bluff @ George Washington
-Eastern Washington @ Texas
-Chicago State @ Wisconsin
-Eastern Kentucky @ Auburn
-Louisiana Monroe @ Colorado
-Coppin State @ BYU
-Weber State @ Stanford – we like Weber to win the Big Sky, but feel they’re overmatched in this one
-San Diego @ UCLA
Throwback Thursday: The New Wave of Exempt Tournaments
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.