Below is a rundown of all of today’s college basketball action on another busy Saturday.
NEWS AND NOTES
-Pitt played a buy game against Eastern Washington last night, and Valpo visited Chicago State. Both Valpo and Pitt won without too much trouble.
-For our most recent Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For the Hoops HD Report from earlier this week – CLICK HERE
SPOTLIGHT GAMES
-CINCINNATI AT XAVIER. This is a huge rivalry game between two teams that are in the rankings. On paper, it’s a great win for whoever wins it, but it’s not a damaging loss at all for whoever doesn’t. Off paper, it’s for bragging rights. Being in the same city means the fans are at each others throat and the players see each other a lot in pickup games and summer leagues. This is the one official game that they play against each other, and it generally gives us a playground type atmosphere. It should be fun.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-OHIO STATE AT CONNECTICUT. UConn has looked good at times this year, but they need notable wins on their profile. Unfortunately, Ohio State has looked terrible this year to the point to where it’s not the kind of win the selection committee would give UConn a whole lot of credit for.
-AUBURN VS MIDDLE TENNESSEE (in Nashville). Auburn has just one loss on the year, but this game will likely present a challenge. Middle Tennessee has looked strong at times, and they’re not going to be easy to beat at home.
-LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE AT LOUISIANA TECH. LA Tech hasn’t lifted a whole lot of weight, but they are 7-1 and can keep the momentum going with a win against an in-state rival today.
-MARQUETTE AT WISCONSIN. This is a rivalry game between two teams who could desperately use a big win. Wiscy is coming off a rather surprising loss to Milwaukee, and while Marquette stands at 7-2 they haven’t beaten anyone of note outside of a very disappointing LSU team. In short, it’s a game between two teams that don’t like each other and that both really need to win.
-ORAL ROBERTS AT OKLAHOMA. Oral Roberts is off to a very good 8-2 start and just got a big win against crosstown rival Tulsa. Chances are they’re swinging way over their heads in this one, but if they were to do the impossible and pull off the upset it’s the kind of win that can get them into the NCAA Tournament even if they fail to win the Summit League tourney. Oklahoma has looked like a #1 seed all season long.
-TENNESSEE AT BUTLER. Tennessee has a long way to go. Butler, on the other hand, is in the rankings and looks like they may be a protected seed.
-UNC WILMINGTON AT GEORGETOWN. Fascinating game here between an unbeaten Wilmington team and a Georgetown team that’s much better than their record indicates. Georgetown lost their season opener to Radford in double overtime, which was a surprise. Since then, they’ve lost away from home to two top ten teams by a combined total of six points. That’s rather remarkable, and I think they will end up very high in the rankings with a very healthy seed before the season end. Wilmington is unbeaten, but also untested. We’ll learn something about them today.
-OLE MISS AT SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE. If there is such a thing as a “road buy game” this is it. I guess Ole Miss is looking to pad their road wins against a winless SEMO team. It’s actually not a bad idea.
-EASTERN ILLINOIS AT WESTERN ILLINOIS. Western Illinois is still at a very respectable 6-2 with the big win against Wisconsin on their profile.
-ARIZONA STATE AT KENTUCKY. Arizona State has played decently well since their season opener, but they haven’t looked like they’re capable of beating Kentucky at Kentucky. To be fair, almost no other team in the country really has either.
-UTAH AT WICHITA STATE. Wichita State has looked a lot better since getting over their injuries, but they still have a ton of work to do. I think they’re capable of making up the ground they lost, and a win today would be a huge start.
-SAINT MARY’S AT CALIFORNIA. Saint Mary’s is unbeaten, but I think it’s safe to say that at least 100 teams would be unbeaten against the schedule they’ve played. Today we get to see if they’re for real or not against a talented Cal team.
-GEORGE MASON AT JAMES MADISON. JMU has been playing slightly better and a win today will get them to a respectable 8-3.
-ARMY AT AIR FORCE. Neither team is likely to get anywhere close to the NCAA Tournament without the automatic bid, but it is an intriguing game between two teams who have played well this season and come into this with decent records.
-STONY BROOK AT NORTHEASTERN. I highlight this game only to say that I think I’ve given up on Northeastern. They can still get on or in the bubble, but they’ll have to practically win out to do it.
-RUTGERS AT GEORGE WASHINGTON. GW has a win against Virginia and their only loss was a close game against Cincinnati. They’re looking solid and a win today gets them to 9-1.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT TEXAS. Texas is improving, but they still have a very long way to go. North Carolina is looking for their first true road win of the season.
-KANSAS STATE AT TEXAS A&M. Both teams come in with solid records and some pretty good wins. It’s a real test for K State who’s only loss was to North Carolina in a game where they played pretty well. It’s an old conference match-up renewed, and it’s a good opportunity for both teams.
-FLORIDA AT MICHIGAN STATE. Florida has a good record, but doesn’t have any really big wins yet. This is probably too tall of an order. Michigan State is ranked #1, and they’ve looked like a #1 seed all season long.
-OREGON AT BOISE STATE. Boise State has been somewhat disappointing this year, but winning a game like this against a ranked team at home could give them the emotional lift they need to turn their season around. Oregon is good, but this is their first true road games, as well as one of their bigger tests so far.
-CHATTANOOGA AT DAYTON. This is a huge opportunity for a Chattanooga team that’s won some big games already. A win today against a solid Dayton team that’s very tough to beat at home could make the difference between them making the NCAA Tournament or not if they fail to win the SoCon. Dayton is coming off a big road win against Vanderbilt and already has an impressive profile at 7-1.
-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT MARSHALL. I highlight this game for a reason that very few people will appreciate. If only Jeff Neubauer were still at EKU for this one!
-UNLV AT UC RIVERSIDE. UNLV is coming off the road loss to Wichita. UC Riverside isn’t great, but they are unbeaten at home and, again, it’s a chance for UNLV to pad their road record.
-OREGON STATE VS KANSAS (in Kansas City). The good news is that Oregon State is MUCH improved. The bad news is that they were so bad before, that being much improved still doesn’t put them in the same universe as a Kansas team that will contend for a #1 seed. It’s still a great test and opportunity for the Beavers in a game where they have nothing to lose.
-BYU AT COLORADO. The Buffs aren’t getting a whole lot of attention despite being 7-1. This is one of their bigger tests against a decent but not great BYU team who needs to win a game like this if they want the committee to notice them.
-MINNESOTA VS OKLAHOMA STATE (in Sioux Falls, SD). Not much to see here. Both teams have a lot of work to do, and more likely than not neither is capable of doing it.
-UC IRVINE AT UTAH STATE. Utah State losing their best player certainly set them back. UC Irvine probably won’t end up on the bubble either, but they are a respectable 6-3 and this would be a big road win for them if they can pull it off. Chances are this will end up having NIT implications rather than NCAA implications, though.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT NEW MEXICO. This is a huge opportunity for UNI. They have the big home win against North Carolina. If they get a road win against a New Mexico team that’s looked pretty good this year, I think they solidify themselves (at least for now) as a tournament caliber team.
-UCLA AT GONZAGA. UCLA has the big home win against Kentucky, but this is their first true road game. Gonzaga had to sweat out their last game against Montana, and hasn’t looked quite as good as we expected them to this season.
-LITTLE ROCK AT DEPAUL. Little Rock is unbeaten on the season, and the more they win, the more seriously we need to take them. DePaul isn’t exactly a top notch team, but they are unbeaten at home.
BUY GAMES
-Bryant @ Providence
-Delaware State @ Michigan
-Youngstown State @ Purdue
-Eastern Michigan @ Louisville
-Mississippi Valley State @ Evansville
-UMES @ Maryland
-IUPUI @ Creighton
-McNeese State @ Indiana
-Western Carolina @ Davidson
-Manhattan @ Memphis
Throwback Thursday: The Last Amateurs
Click here for Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day
A Season On The Brink. A Good Walk Spoiled. A March To Madness. If you are familiar with author/columnist/sports talk show host John Feinstein, these are a few of his most famous books written. But he also chronicled the Patriot League for a full season during the turn of the century (the 1999-2000 season). In his own words, he wanted to document a league that would have more of a true amateur status but yet be under-the-radar and still have a shot at the big time. Division III basketball was too far removed from the big time, and the Ivy League at that time actually had a pair of teams (Penn and Princeton) that would occasionally receive votes in the Top 25; Princeton was even seeded as high as #5 in the NCAA Tournament as recently as 1998.
What truly made the Patriot League special was that they were a Division I conference that was under-the-radar; back then, only the champion would go on to the NCAA Tournament. The NIT did not yet have a rule in place where the regular-season champion was guaranteed an NIT invite in the event they did not win their tournament. At that time, the only schools that had scholarships were at Army and Navy; those were government scholarships that also included a 5-year active tour of duty after graduation. All 5 of the other schools (Lafayette, Lehigh, Bucknell, Colgate and Holy Cross) could offer either financial aid packages or a hybrid of academic scholarships and a partial financial aid package at that time.
Lafayette was the top team in the league going into the 1999-2000 season; they were the first team at that time to have two different Players-Of-The-Year on their team. Brian Ehlers was the defending Player of the Year; their center Stefan Ciosici was Player of the Year in 1997-98 but had to sit out the 1998-99 season due to an ACL injury he suffered during the summer of 1998. The Leopards would get a notable win at Princeton that season and nearly pulled off an upset at Villanova; this prompted Nova head coach Steve Lappas to make the wisecrack that “we guaranteed you X amount of money; you were supposed to guarantee us a win!” (Lappas himself was on the other side of the fence when he was Manhattan’s head coach, so he could understand Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon’s position.). During the regular season, Lafayette would finish in a 1st-place tie with Navy.
The Midshipmen were another formidable team in the league by Patriot League standards; they were led by senior Sitapha Savane and junior Chris Williams. Both players had token roles on Navy’s 1997-98 team that reached the NCAA Tournament and were competitive with eventual Final 4 team North Carolina for a half. Despite pre-season turmoil that saw Savane land himself on restriction (a disciplinary measure at Navy) for 90 days and head coach Don DeVoe losing his granddaughter to a birth defect, Navy would also finish 13-1 in conference play along with Lafayette. Navy was playing its best basketball in March, but a new tiebreaking procedure in the league (namely, team RPI) allowed Lafayette to choose the top seed and home court advantage for a championship game should they advance to that point. Navy as the #2 seed was allowed to get the first-round bye that would have ordinarily gone to the outright regular season champion.
The Bucknell Bison would finish in 3rd place that season. They were led by a group of seniors including Brian Muckle and Walter Karavanic. Like many other Patriot League teams, the Bison would play a mix of guarantee games on the road and also an annual fixture game at Penn State. And like many other fixture games, Bucknell would lead for much of the game but could not pull off a signature win on the road. Bucknell was historically the most consistent winner in the Patriot League, but they were years away from pulling off a pair of Patriot League championships and also a pair of NCAA Tournament wins against Kansas and Memphis.
The Colgate Red Raiders were a team in transition; they were 3 years removed from the in-season death of popular head coach Jack Bruen. Under Bruen’s leadership, Colgate would win the Patriot League in 1995 that featured a future NBA Draft pick in Adonal Foyle. (The only other player drafted was Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum years later). Pat Diamond was the only senior on Colgate’s team that had played under Bruen; for this season former Navy assistant Emmett Davis would be in his 3rd year as the Red Raiders’ head coach. Colgate was another team that had an annual fixture game with a power program (Syracuse). Colgate-Syracuse used to be a home-and-home series, but Syracuse last traveled to Hamilton in the late 1970s.
Holy Cross was another team in transition; they (along with Fordham) fell on hard times after joining the Patriot League and abandoning athletic scholarships per league policy. As the alums grew tired of the losing culture that followed, they hired former Western Kentucky/Pittsburgh head coach Ralph Willard to help right the ship. They were also allowed to begin phasing back in athletic scholarships (by adding 2 per year) but not to a point where they would be at a great advantage over other Patriot League schools. Had Holy Cross left the league like Fordham did, the Patriot League would also be in jeopardy of losing their automatic bid in the event that Holy Cross did decide to realign. Their best post player was Josh Sankes; he transferred out of Rutgers due to lack of playing time and some bizarre drills that took place during Rutgers’ practices. But the heart of the Crusaders was guard Chris Spitler, the self-proclaimed “worst player in Division I” who would move up from walk-on to reserve player to spot starter for the Crusaders.
Lehigh was historically the worst team by Patriot League standards in the era of no athletic scholarships. They were also one of the few arenas in the NCAA where the scoreboard was more devoted to wrestling (a very popular sport at Lehigh) than basketball. What they lacked in on-the-floor play was made up for by head coach Sal Mentesana’s wardrobe. He was far and away the best dressed Patriot League head coach back then and would give Jay Wright a run for his money today. Lehigh would also be a spoiler in tournament play; they knocked out top-seeded Navy in the 1998-99 conference tournament and would defeat Colgate and scare Lafayette at Lafayette’s gym before bowing out in the 1999-2000 conference tournament. Once Lehigh began phasing in athletic scholarships like Holy Cross did for the following season, the Mountain Hawks’ fortunes began to turn for the better.
Finally, there were the Army Black Knights. Army had a rich history that featured future star head coaches in Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski’s own point guard at Army (Pat Harris) would be head coach at the time of the 1999-2000 season. His star player was guard Chris Spatola (who also became a future Coach K assistant and is now a play-by-play announcer for ESPN). Their slogan for the year was “40 Minutes of Army Basketball” – not often done with a lot of consistency, however. Even a Holy Cross staffer once quipped that the Crusaders lost a game because they “played 40 minutes of Army basketball.” However, that comment bit Holy Cross in the ass because Army played its best game of the year at home against Holy Cross; it was a rare opportunity for Army to clear their bench in a winning effort.
Lafayette and Navy provided the best rivalry in the Patriot League at that time; the Leopards won their first meeting at home narrowly; Navy won their home game in a blowout that got chippy late in the game as a Lafayette freshman took out a Navy player with a hard foul. What angered Navy was that the Lafayette player didn’t appear to be remorseful at the time; he was merely a freshman who had a deer-in-the-headlights moment. When they faced off for the Patriot League championship at Lafayette’s gym, it was the Leopards’ turn to blow out Navy and earn their 2nd straight championship and automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Their trip was short-lived with a blowout loss to Temple, however. The following year, Holy Cross would complete their turnaround and not only win the Patriot League championship, but give the 2nd-seeded Kentucky Wildcats a major scare in the 1st round before eventually losing.
After the 2000-01 season, American University would join the Patriot League; Loyola-Maryland and Boston University would also join years later while being able to retain their athletic scholarships. In order to maintain competitive balance in the league, Colgate, Bucknell and Lafayette eventually phased in athletic scholarships as well. The Patriot League’s original intent was to be like the Ivy League in that scholarships should only be awarded in the case of academic merit and financial aid would be packaged in where necessary. Ultimately, the schools just didn’t have the same reputation that the Ivies did where they would be in a position to offer such scholarships and aid on a long-term basis.
Click here to order John Feinstein’s book The Last Amateurs