Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES

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

-Yesterday I wrote about how Louisville v Kentucky is oftentimes a sloppy and poor played game.  Yesterday, it was anything but that.  The energy level was high, the skill level was high, and it was one of the more exciting games we’ve seen all year up to this point.  Louisville, who had lost nine of the last ten meetings between the two, picked up the win and earned the bragging rights that they haven’t had since the 2012-2013 season.  As for Kentucky, it always bruises the ego when you lose a rivalry game, but it was their first true road game, it is hardly a damaging loss, and if they played that well in that environment there is more reason to be optimistic than pessimistic moving forward.

-Clemson also picked up a huge road win against their rivals in South Carolina.  It is perhaps one of the biggest wins of the Brad Brownell era considering what kind of a quality road win it was on paper, and what a momentum boost a win like that will do for them off paper.  I didn’t know this, and it sounded unbelievable during the broadcast, but apparently it was the first ever out of conference road win against a ranked team for the Clemson program.

-Cal hung in with Virginia in what was a low scoring affair.  It looked like Cal is finally able to win games that aren’t just home buy games.  They didn’t actually win it, and Virginia picked up what should turn out to be a quality road game, but I do believe Cal is improving.

-Middle Tennessee, the team that had looked so impressive this season, looked anything but impressive yesterday.  They lost at home to Georgia State, who will most likely finish in the upper half of the Sun Belt, it is hardly the kind of team you would expect Middle Tennessee to not beat at home.  It is a setback, and it greatly narrows their margin for error.  They can still land inside the bubble, but they did shoot themselves in the foot.  If they pick up another loss or two like that it’ll be more like shooting themselves in the face rather than the foot.

-Arkansas State, another team I was big on and actually had inside my bubble in my last projections, lost rather decisively at Alabama.  So much for that!

-For once, I was wrong. I thought that the Johnnies’ would not end up winning by 18 points against the ‘Cuse after I turned off that game last night. They ended up winning by a whopping 33 points instead and handed Syracuse their worst-ever margin of defeat in the Carrier Dome. ESPN was also quick to point out last night that Chris Mullin is 2-0 as a head coach against Syracuse and 1-18 against the rest of the Big East.

-Last and definitely least, Grayson Allen is back in the news!  Duke beat Elon.  That isn’t noteworthy other than Elon made them sweat more than expected.  But, during the game, Grayson Allen tripped an Elon player who had gotten by him while driving the basket.  This is the third time in the last season-and-a-half that Grayson Allen has tripped an opposing player.  He did apologize profusely for his actions after the game, but that will do little to quash the media and social media outrage over this.  Allen trips players at the same rate that Luis Suarez seems to bite players (soccer footnote).  Tripping is far less egregious than biting, but it is something that needs to stop.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TENNESSEE AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE.  East Tennessee State may not be the bigger brand name, but they are the better team this year and they are at home.  It will actually be an upset if ETSU does not win rather than the other way around.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT MIAMI FL.  We haven’t talked much about Miami, but the do come into this game at a respectable 8-2.  They still have quite a bit of work to do, but they have at least held serve up to this point.

-YALE AT TEMPLE.  While their season has been disappointing at times, Yale is still the Ivy League frontrunner.  They take on a Temple team that has some really good wins and some really bad losses.  It’s hard to know for sure what they’re ever going to do.

-WYOMING VS DEPAUL (Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic).  Wyoming doesn’t really have anything that resembles a quality win, but they are 9-2 and they play in a league that isn’t exactly stock full of quality.  This is a very winnable game, and if they pick it up and can get a win against USC tomorrow in the championship game, then they’ll be a Mountain West team that at least has SOMETHING of note on their NCAA Tournament profile.

-LSU AT WAKE FOREST.  Both teams still have a lot of work to do, and there is a good chance that neither of them will be in the tournament picture at the end, but this is the kind of game that both of them need to win if they do want to end up inside the bubble.

-KANSAS AT UNLV.  This is a huge mismatch in Kansas’s favor despite this being a road game.  The Jayhawks shouldn’t have any trouble putting this true road win on their resume.

-UT ARLINGTON AT LMU.  UT Arlington is going after their sixth true road win of the season, which is a lot higher than what most teams have at this point.  Two of those road wins include at Texas and at Saint Mary’s.  This team doesn’t appear to be getting a whole lot of national love, but they are certainly on our radar.  We feel they could end up being an at-large team if they keep winning at that clip.

-COLORADO STATE AT LONG BEACH STATE.  A rare home game for Long Beach.  It’s also a rare OOC game against a team that’s not a hands down first ballot team.  Even still, Colorado State is good enough to where they’ll have a chance to play their way onto the bubble.  In order for that to happen they need to be able to win games like this.

-SAN FRANCISCO VS UTAH (Diamondhead Classic).  Both of these teams come into this event with just on two losses, and if they can do well in it their NCAA Tournament profile will certainly reflect it.  Neither look to be solid tournament teams at the moment, but both have held serve and the door hasn’t shut on them yet as far as being able to play their way into the picture.

-MISSOURI STATE VS USC (Continental Tires Las Vegas Classic).  Missouri State is out to a rather impressive 8-3 start, and if they can some how pick up this win and a win tomorrow we’ll have to start taking a serious look at them.  USC is looking to pick up two decent but not great wins and remain unbeaten.

BUY GAMES

-TAMUCC @ Oklahoma State
-UNC Greensboro @ Georgetown
-Morehead State @ Mississippi State
-Austin Peay @ Indiana
-Furman @ Michigan
-McNeese State @ NC State
-Louisiana Monroe @ VCU
-Marshall @ Cincinnati
-Rider @ UMass
-Canisius @ Saint Bonaventure – defacto Big Four
-William & Mary @ Rhode Island
-Sam Houston State @ Arkansas – it’s a buy game, but Sam Houston is a Southland frontrunner
-Houston Baptist @ Northwestern
-Santa Clara @ Valparaiso
-South Dakota State @ Wichita State
-Eastern Washington @ Colorado
-South Alabama @ Ole Miss
-UNC Asheville @ Ohio State
-Cal State Bakersfield @ BYU
-South Carolina State @ Saint Mary’s
-Idaho @ Stanford

Another somewhat busy night in college basketball just before the Holidays!

–For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Georgia State and a very good Middle Tennessee team that is certainly a tournament caliber team – CLICK HERE

-Yesterday was pretty much a day of chalk with nothing really noteworthy or cataclysmic happening.  Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery stormed off the court after their game against North Dakota.  Iowa had the ball and was just letting the clock run out when UND made a quick steal and layup at the buzzer.  It’s not something you normally see, but I think it’s a stretch to say what North Dakota did was out of line, much less so far out of line that you storm off without shaking hands.  Perhaps the spread was ten points, and he took the over on his own team??  To McCaffery’s credit he did apologize this morning.

-KENTUCKY AT LOUISVILLE (***Spotlight Game***).  On paper, it’s two protected seeds looking for a huge quality win on their resume, and in the case of Kentucky, looking for the kind of road win that could distinguish them as a #1 seed.  Off paper, it is one of the most heated rivalries in college sports, and perhaps even all of American sports.  Kentucky has dominated this series in recent years, and you get the feeling that Louisville needs to win it as much for their mental health as they do for their tournament profile.  With four big games coming up for Louisville, a win in this game gives them some much needed momentum, whereas a loss would give them a much unneeded hangover.  It should be fun.  It should be wild.  But, it may not necessarily be well played.  Another regular staple of this game is that it is oftentimes a poorly played and sloppy game.  That was not the case last year, but that has been the case in recent years.

-ILLINOIS VS MISSOURI (Braggin’ Rights Game!!  Saint Louis, MO).  Ummmm….it’s called the Braggin’ Rights game.  But, is it really anything to boast over if you win it this year??

-TOWSON VS NEVADA (South Point Holiday Hoops Classic, Las Vegas). Technically not a buy game, but it’s pretty close for a Nevada team that desperately needs wins of any sort to remain relevant. Ditto for the Mountain West.

-VANDERBILT AT DAYTON.  Dayton has held serve and for the most part won the games they were expected to win, but up until this point they’ve done little else and need some notable wins on their profile while continuing to hold serve.  Beating Vandy at home probably doesn’t qualify as noteworthy, but at the very least they need the win to hold serve.

-OAKLAND AT MICHIGAN STATE.  Oakland has just two losses on the year, they took Michigan State to overtime last year, and Michigan State is in a complete tailspin at the moment.

-JACKSONVILLE AT CHATTANOOGA.  Chattanooga pretty much needs to win out.

-LITTLE ROCK AT FLORIDA.  Little Rock enters this game at a very respectable 9-3 and although it’s not likely that they’ll end up inside the bubble (especially with losses against Idaho, Pepperdine and Oral Roberts), a win today would be putting the committee in a position to where they’d at least be forced to look at them.  While Florida just needs to string together some wins to get back into the rankings, they finally will play their first true home game in a refurbished O-Dome tonight.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT SYRACUSE.  This is an old Big East rivalry, which is the kind of game Syracuse has been struggling in these past few years.  In recent weeks, Syracuse has been struggling in seemingly every kind of game.  They cannot afford to lose to a team that is of buy game quality, which Saint John’s appears to be.

-AKRON VS UC IRVINE (Sun Bowl Classic – El Paso).  Akron is a team that we’re kinda, sorta, maybe, thinking could possibly be a bubble team.  Maybe.  Perhaps.  Probably not, but….maybe.  Having said that, this is the kind of game away from home they absolutely need to win. This is a bracketed 2-day event (the other game is Maryland-Eastern Shore/UTEP), but is NOT an exempt event.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT NORTH CAROLINA.  This is a return game from last year, but it may end up looking like a buy game given the way UNI has been playing lately.

-AUBURN VS OKLAHOMA (Birthday of Basketball Classic, Mohegan Sun).  I get the sense that these are two teams that could potentially contend for the NCAA Tournament, but probably won’t.  Nevertheless, if they’re going to do it then they need to win this game. (The Fairfield-Boston College game precedes this one, but is only worth watching if you are either Lee Delvecchio, a Fairfield fan or both.)

-ARKANSAS STATE AT ALABAMA.  I actually had Arkansas State just inside my bubble on my last bracket projections.  If they are a tournament team, they will be able to win this game.  Alabama has looked like an NIT team at best, and it’s the kind of road game that an at-large caliber team should be able to win.

-CLEMSON AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  Clemson has held serve, but they need a big win.  Beating a rival on the road, who appears to be a tournament caliber team, would certainly qualify as a big win both on and off paper.  As for SC, their good wins still look okay, but not quite as good as they did at the moment they won them, so they need to have a sense of urgency as well. Sindarius Thornwell remains suspended for the Gamecocks for this one as well.

-OHIO AT WESTERN KENTUCKY.  Ohio U can pick up their second true road win and improve to 8-2 overall.

-VIRGINIA AT CALIFORNIA.  Up until now, Cal has done little else other than win home buy games.  This is still a home game, but it will put something on their profile that they don’t have much of yet, and that’s any sort of win that isn’t a home buy game.  As for Virginia, it’s a chance to pick up a notable road win.

BUY GAMES

-Longwood @ Texas Tech
-Elon @ Duke
-American @ Villanova
-Norfolk State @ Purdue
-Omaha @ Pittsburgh
-Bethune Cookman @ UCF
-Jacksonville @ Davidson
-Vermont @ Butler – watch out for Vermont once America East play begins, though
-Texas Southern @ Baylor
-Saint Francis U @ Texas A&M
-UAB @ Texas
-Gardner Webb @ Kansas State
-Incarnate Word @ Memphis
-Liberty @ Houston
-SIUE @ Marquette
-South Dakota @ Gonzaga
-Bradley @ TCU
-Western Michigan @ UCLA