A rundown of today’s college basketball games, and a quick look back at yesterday…
NEWS AND NOTES
-Things are getting busy and more intense with conference playing starting up.
-Michigan State fell on the road at Iowa, but they weren’t at full strength and it’s hardly a bad loss. I still think the Spartans have what it takes to land on a #1 seed. Iowa has beaten the #1 ranked team, and had a 20 point lead on the #2 ranked team in the second half. They’re not always playing at a top level, but when they are they’re pretty good.
-Texas Tech picked up another notable win at home when they knocked off Richmond. They may be good, but their problem is that they haven’t even played a true road game yet. True road wins in Big Twelve play are not going to be easy to come by, and they’ll be under more pressure to pick up a few. It’s rare that you see teams with less than four wins away from home in the field.
-Florida State picked up what is probably their biggest and most feel good win of the season by winning at Florida. The Noles should be able to make some noise in ACC play.
-Cincinnati lost at home to Temple. It’s never good to lose conference games at home to sub NIT teams, which is what Temple appears to be. Without an abundance of chances at notable wins, Cincinnati can’t afford too many strikes like that. They’re still in good shape, but they won’t be if that becomes a habit.
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WEST VIRGINIA AT VIRGINIA TECH. Virginia Tech’s program appears to be improving under Buzz Williams, but they still have a long way to go. West Virginia has just one loss and has looked strong this season, but this is their first true road game of the year, and it comes against a rival, so it may be somewhat challenging.
-INDIANA AT RUTGERS (Big Ten). Indiana needs wins to strengthen what is a flimsy profile heading into conference play. With a defense as weak as theirs it won’t shock me to see them drop road games like this throughout the year.
-PENN STATE AT MARYLAND (Big Ten). Penn State has a decent record, but they amassed it against bad teams. Maryland is a very good team and their resume should improve as they go through conference play.
-HOUSTON AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American). Houston has a good record, but it came against weak teams, which means their margin for error is razor thin. In fact, this would be their first true road win if they pull it off.
-MICHIGAN AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Despite being 10-3, Michigan still has work to do in order to get to the level many were expecting them to be at at the start of the year. Are they good enough to beat a very NIT-ish looking Illinois team on the road?
-NORTHWESTERN AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Northwestern has just one loss, but they’ve had to sweat out some very weak opponents. For most of the season Nebraska hasn’t even looked like an NIT team, but they’re still a lot tougher than most of Northwestern’s opponents.
-OAKLAND AT VIRGINIA. Oakland took Michigan State to overtime this past weekend, but I’d be shocked if they’re able to do the same at Virginia today.
-MINNESOTA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Ohio State has so much ground to make up that they’ll need to roll off three or four wins just to get back into the conversation. But, seeing how good they looked against Kentucky they could be good enough to do just that. If they lose at home today, though, they’re in real trouble.
-CLEMSON AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC). Clemson has not won a true road game yet. And, they haven’t won at North Carolina yet. Ever. EVER!!! UNC is good enough to be a protected seed and should win their conference opener today.
-SETON HALL AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Neither team has really gotten the nation’s attention yet, but both come into this game at 10-2 and actually have some decent wins to go along with it.
-ARKANSAS AT DAYTON. Dayton has just two losses on the year and should land inside the bubble so long as they hold serve in games like this one.
-BRADLEY AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley). Northern Iowa has two huge wins, but they’ve also failed to hold serve in games against lower level competition. To make the dance, you have to win the big ones, but you also have to avoid losing the small ones. They need a very strong showing in conference if they want to make the field.
-INDIANA STATE AT EVANSVILLE (Missouri Valley). Evansville can improve to 12-2 on the year with a win today. This conference will give them a few opportunities at notable wins, but only a few, so they’ll need to finish very strong in order to end up in the conversation.
-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (Missouri Valley). Southern Illinois’s schedule has been weak, but they are 11-2 and this would be their fifth true road win of the year if they’re able to pick it up.
-LITTLE ROCK AT SOUTH ALABAMA (Sun Belt). A first place finish in the SBC should land Little Rock inside the bubble, but they need to avoid bad losses. That basically means they need to avoid losing to pretty much everyone other than Arlington.
-GEORGIA STATE AT UT ARLINGTON (Sun Belt) – CLICK HERE to see Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day
-SYRACUSE AT PITTSBURGH (Big East…I mean ACC). Pitt has a great record against awful teams. Syracuse has big wins, but very few of those occurred in the United States. The best part of their resume was winning the Battle 4 Atlantis down in the Bahamas. With Pitt playing such a weak schedule it puts a lot more pressure on them to do well in conference play. They better end up more than just two games above 500 if they want to feel safe on Selection Sunday.
-GEORGETOWN AT DEPAUL (Big East). Georgetown has looked great this season when they’re not playing buy games. They have a lot of ground to make up in conference play if they want to end up safely in the discussion.
-FRESNO STATE AT UNLV (Mountain West). UNLV is perhaps the only team from the Mountain West that has a solid chance of landing inside the bubble, and they’ll have to blow through the conference in order to do it.
BUY GAMES
-Long Beach State @ Duke
-Francis Marion (nondiv1) @ South Carolina
-Coppin State @ Iowa State
-Western Michigan @ Vanderbilt
-UC Davis @ Boise State
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Dec 29th
It’s another busy day in college basketball game with conference play getting underway in the Big Ten and the American. Below is a rundown of all the action, and a look back at what happened in recent days.
NEWS AND NOTES
-For the latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast, which has a focus on Out of Conference Rivalries – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day, which has some special ties to how the coveted Hoops HD Centenary Award came into existence – CLICK HERE
-Within hours of releasing our latest Bracket Projections, which are really just check points rather than predictions, Monmouth fell at Army. Monmouth’s resume is still very impressive, and I actually had them on the #4 line prior to the loss because they had won eight games away from home, which included Notre Dame, USC, Georgetown, and the only team to win at UCLA so far. I still think they’re good, and still think they can land inside the bubble, but ending up as a protected seed is probably a little out of their reach even if they win out. Having said that, Army is off to one of their best starts in recent memory and will likely be a serious contender for the Patriot League title. A team who earns a protected seed should certainly be expected to win it, but I don’t think it’s so damaging to Monmouth that it knocks them out of the at-large picture entirely. It’s really not even close to being that damaging.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-TULANE AT MEMPHIS (American). Memphis has a better than expected record at 8-3, but they still have a lot of work to do in conference play if they want to be in the NCAA discussion come March.
-TEMPLE AT CINCINNATI (American). Cincinnati is in good shape so long as they do things like avoid losses at home to non tournament teams.
-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT UAB . Both teams have been somewhat disappointing, but both still have the potential to have big years. One of UAB’s losses came in overtime to Virginia Tech, and another was by just a point in their season opener against Auburn. Still, anything short of winning out will likely be too little.
-RICHMOND AT TEXAS TECH. Texas Tech has a bloated record against what is mostly cupcakes, and has yet to play a true road game. Still, they had an impressive win against a good Little Rock team in their last game, and will get the chances at big wins in conference play. Richmond needs this win a little more. They have just one true road win, and won’t get nearly as many chances at notable wins once conference play begins. Right now it feels as though both are on the bubble and could really use this win for their profiles, and for momentum.
-SMU AT TULSA (American). For SMU, I’d say this is a chance for them to remain unbeaten and continue working toward a possible protected seed, but they’re ineligible for the NCAAs. For Tulsa, they need to get their season turned around in a hurry if they want to be in the picture come March.
-DUQUESNE AT GEORGIA TECH. Both teams have good records, but neither have any good wins. We should learn at least a little more about each team after today.
-WAKE FOREST AT LSU. Wake is having a pretty good year and this is a chance for them to pick up their third true road win. LSU was a team we were big on coming into the season, but as of now their profile is horrible and they have a ton of catching up to do.
-FLORIDA STATE AT FLORIDA. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see both these teams in the NCAA Tournament. Florida has played well, but doesn’t have any really high caliber wins yet and could use this one. Florida State is still looking for their first true road win. To get a win in a rivalry game against a solid team will be huge for whoever pulls it off.
-NORTHEASTERN AT NC STATE. I still believe Northeastern has the ability to be a very dangerous team, but they’ll need to blow through the rest of their schedule in order to get noticed. NC State is a respectable 9-3, but still has work to do as well.
-PRINCETON AT MIAMI FL. As of now, Miami has a very solid profile and is actually on our #1 line (although I’m not entirely expecting them to stay there). Princeton is off to a good 7-3 start and should make some noise in Ivy League play, but they’re probably swinging way over their heads today.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT UCF. GW is looking to rebound from their embarrassing blowout loss at DePaul and pick up their second true road win.
-PURDUE AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Purdue has looked very impressive with just one loss. Conversely, Wiscy has struggled a lot more than expected this year. Purdue is looking like a protected seed, and the Badgers have a lot of work to do just to land in the NCAA Tournament picture.
-CHATTANOOGA AT LIPSCOMB. Chattanooga is the superior team and needs to pick up this road win while avoiding what would be a damaging loss to their profile.
-CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT WILLIAM & MARY. We were really big on both these teams coming into the year, and both have been somewhat disappointing. Still, W&M only has three losses, but they’ll have to blow through the rest of their schedule to get a serious look.
-SAINT LOUIS AT KANSAS STATE. The Wildcats are having a much better year than I expected them to, at least up until now, and can improve to 10-2 with a win over SLU.
-CONNECTICUT AT TEXAS. UConn REALLLLLLY needs this win because other than Cincinnati and SMU, they won’t have many more chances at notable wins once they enter conference play. Adding a quality road win to their profile is something they really need right now.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT IOWA (Big Ten). Iowa is 6-0 at home and top ranked Michigan State is not at full strength. Iowa has looked good this year and has improved as the year has gone on. It wouldn’t shock me to see them pull this one off.
BUY GAMES
-Texas Southern @ Baylor
-Liberty @ Notre Dame
-UMES @ Saint Joseph’s
-Robert Morris @ Georgia
-UMKC @ Oklahoma State
-Jacksonville State @ Alabama
-Cal Poly @ Texas A&M
-UC Irvine @ Kansas – although UC Irvine is one of the better teams in the Big West
-Western Oregon (nondiv1) @ Oregon