Below is a rundown of all of tonight’s action, and a quick look back at some of the games of note from last night..
NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-A busy night last night. Maryland fell behind early at North Carolina and fought their way back into it throughout the second half, but UNC held on. I was more impressed with Maryland in this game than most of the other games I’ve seen them play. They were on the road against a full strength UNC team that will contend for a #1 seed, so the loss isn’t at all damaging.
-UT Arlington had a shot to beat Texas at the end of regulation, and ended up falling in overtime. Still, it was an impressive showing and it’s an indication that this team is good. At the very least, they are one of the best eight teams in their conference. The question is whether or not they’ll have enough meat on their profile to impress the selection committee. They have a razor thin margin for error. It’s also worth noting that a UT Arlington basket that should have been ruled a three was only counted as a two-pointer. You can’t say that Texas wouldn’t have been able to tie it had they gotten the credit for it, but it is worth noting.
-Northwestern’s profile is currently really respectable. They’ve been winning. The problem is that they’ve been sweating out some sub par teams. They needed overtime to get by Virginia Tech last night.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-LOUISVILLE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge) (***Spotlight Game***). The last time these two met it was a thriller in last year’s Elite Eight. Both come in unbeaten and in the rankings, although Michigan State has done it against a much tougher schedule than Louisville has. Louisville has looked good against okay teams, but this is their first real heavyweight.
-BUTLER AT CINCINNATI. lost convincingly against Miami FL, which has been their only really big test of the season so far. Cincinnati is coming off a neutral floor win against a pretty strong GW team, and has looked in impressive in all of their games up to this point. These are both likely tournament teams, so it’s a quality win for whoever wins it.
-AUBURN AT COASTAL CAROLINA. Auburn is 3-1 and needs to get wins away from home. This certainly qualifies as a winnable road game.
-SETON HALL AT GEORGE WASHINGTON. GW is off to a great start this season with some notable wins and no real bad losses. Seton Hall isn’t a team I was all that big on, but they do come in 5-1 and if they can pick up this one on the road then they’ll have our attention.
-HOFSTRA AT LA SALLE. This game may not end up being noteworthy come March, but as of now Hofstra has a notable win against Florida State and La Salle has just one loss. We’ll keep highlighting them so long as one or both of them keep it up.
-FORDHAM AT SAINT JOHN’S. Coming into the year I believed these two be the two worst teams in New York, but Fordham is off to a 4-1 start, which is remarkable considering how bad they normally are, and the Johnnies are 4-2. The winner should be able to keep some of that momentum going.
-HARVARD AT NORTHEASTERN. Bean Pot!!! Well, that’s a hockey thing, but still. The complexion of Northeastern’s entire season changed when they won at Miami FL. It will change again if they follow that up with a home loss to a Harvard team that’s really been struggling.
-WISCONSIN AT SYRACUSE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Wiscy has struggled to start the year, and that’s putting it nicely. Syracuse, on the other hand, has been surprisingly good. They won three big games to win the Battle 4 Atlantis, and already have quite a bit of money in the bank saved up for March as terms of having a very good early season profile. This would be another notable win for them if they pull it off.
-PENN STATE AT BOSTON COLLEGE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Lee Delvecchio will be watching this game, and probably tweeting about it non stop. So, we have to highlight it. I’m not sure anyone else will be watching, though. In fact I would advise using the parental lock feature on your televisions to make sure that you don’t even accidentally turn this game on!!
-TULSA AT OKLAHOMA STATE. Tulsa has looked good at times, but bad at others. Oklahoma State has a solid 5-1 record, but they’ve amassed it against questionable competition, and that’s putting it nicely. This is somewhat of a regional rivalry, both teams have work to do, and winning this game would certainly help.
-MURRAY STATE AT HOUSTON. Houston is unbeaten, but also untested. Murray isn’t particularly good, but they are at least decent.
-NORTH FLORIDA AT LSU. One of these teams has looked decent at times, and it’s not LSU. LSU has looked so bad that you have to ask yourself if North Florida will actually get any credit if they manage to win the game.
-ARIZONA STATE AT CREIGHTON. Both have looked decent but not great at times throughout the season. Both have work to do, and winning this game would certainly help.
-WYOMONG AT DENVER (Front Range). We here at Hoops HD Love the Front Range!! Both teams come in with decent records, but neither have really played anyone yet. The winner should walk away with some momentum, though.
-UTEP AT NEW MEXICO STATE. UTEP is unbeaten, and although they haven’t played any top teams, they haven’t all been complete cupcakes either. Still, it’s hard to say how good they actually are at this point, but if they can pull off a win in a road game against an OOC rival, their momentum will continue. CLICK HERE TO READ CHAD SHERWOOD’S WRITE UP
-VCU AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Middle Tennessee is out to a 4-1 start despite not having played any games at home yet. VCU has looked good this year, but they don’t have any really big wins just yet. They better not sleep walk through this one or MTSU may pull the upset.
-INDIANA AT DUKE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Indiana is 5-2, but it’s a very unimpressive 5-2, especially when many were expecting them to be a top fifteen team. Duke has looked great this year, and the Hoosiers could be in for a long night. If Indiana is for real, then they need to at least show up and compete with Duke, but up until now they haven’t given any indication that they can even do that, much less beat them.
-NOTRE DAME AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Illinois is just 3-4, but they’ve looked much better in their last two games since they got healthy. Notre Dame was expected to do big things this year, and they still could, but they’re off to a sluggish start. Both teams have a lot of work to do, so this game, while early, does have some sense of urgency to it.
-FLORIDA STATE AT IOWA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Iowa didn’t set the world on fire in the Advocare Invitational, but they didn’t play poorly either. Both teams could really use a notable win at this point, so this is an important game.
-BYU AT UTAH. This is a huge rivalry even though it’s no longer a conference game. It’s about bragging rights off paper. It’s also about picking up a quality win on paper, which is something both teams could really use, especially BYU.
-GONZAGA AT WASHINGTON STATE. Wazzu is unbeaten, but they haven’t played anyone near the caliber of this Gonzaga team. This is somewhat of a rivalry game even though it’s been a very one sided rivalry.
BUY GAMES
-Sacred Heart @ Connecticut
-South Carolina Upstate @ Clemson
-Hartford @ Providence
-FGCU @ Texas A&M
-Grambling @ Marquette
-Detroit @ Vandberbilt
-Morehead State @ Saint Louis
-Fort Lewis (nondiv1) @ Colorado
-Chicago State @ Northern Illinois – this may not be a buy game, but it is a practical one if not a technical one.
-SEMO @ Southern Illinois
-Wayne State (nondiv1) @ South Dakota State
-Silverlake (nondiv1) @ Western Illinois
-Prairie View A&M @ Baylor
-LMU @ Oregon State
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Hawaii. Hawaii has just one loss.
News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Dec 1st
NEWS AND NOTES
-We just recorded our latest Hoops HD Report where we look back at all of the action from this past weeks. It was one of the busiest and most important weeks of the college basketball season, which is something most fans don’t realize. You need to watch it or listen to it if you haven’t all ready. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST HOOPS HD REPORT
-Jon Teitel has another outstanding interview with Kansas State’s Rolando Blackman – CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Old Dominion and William & Mary – CLICK HERE
-LSU is TERRIBLE!! They are a complete tire fire!! WOW are they bad!!! They lost rather decisively (and that’s actually an understatement) to College of Charleston, who we believe to be one of the worst teams in the Colonial. That is all.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MARYLAND AT NORTH CAROLINA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). I miss this old ACC rivalry. It’s a little strange to see them meeting in an OOC game. Both teams are deservedly ranked in the top ten, and UNC is now back at full strength. This is one of the tougher road games Maryland will play all season, and if they want a #1 seed this is the kind of statement win that can help them get it.
-UT ARLINGTON AT TEXAS (***Spotlight Game***). Okay, this is a buy game and Texas doesn’t even have a winning record, so this may not even turn out to be a noteworthy game, much less a spotlight game, come March. But, as of now, UTA has just one loss and has managed wins at Ohio State and Memphis. Texas, while they have a losing record, is improving. That means this game has somewhat of a pivotal feel to it, and if UTA pulls the upset, we need to start to look at them seriously as being a legit team.
-MICHIGAN AT NC STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both of these teams have potential, but are not off to the best of starts and could really use this game.
-NORTHWESTERN AT VIRGINIA TECH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). This wouldn’t be a big win for Northwestern as much as it would be a defining loss. When you lose at a place like Virginia Tech, it defines you as a non-tournament team.
-VILLANOVA AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Big Five). Every Big Five game is a rivalry game, but this one is perhaps the most bitter. Not much was expected out of Saint Joe’s this year, but they’re off to a better than expected 4-1 start and a signature win like this will definitely get people’s attention.
-VIRGINIA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Ohio State has dropped two surprising games at home, and really hasn’t looked good at any point this season. This is the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, and they will be challenged. They will be challenged quite a bit.
-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT IOWA STATE. This is technically a buy game, but North Dakota State likely being one of the better teams in the Summit League makes it intriguing enough to highlight. Taking on a top ten team is probably a little over their heads, but it’s a good opportunity for them.
-PURDUE AT PITTSBURGH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both teams come in unbeaten, and Pitt did look good in the first half against Gonzaga before the game was cancelled, but other than that they’ve been untested. We should learn something about both these teams tonight.
-RICHMOND AT FLORIDA. I like both these teams, but both still have work to do. I think this is a resume builder for whoever wins it, and that’s something that both these teams could use.
-OLD DOMINION AT WILLIAM & MARY. This is a very important game. It’s an old rivalry, and both teams need to be coming in with a huge sense of urgency. It’s also Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, as it should be. CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT IT
-DAVIDSON AT CHARLOTTE. Charlotte has been awful this year, and Davidson is unbeaten against awful teams. If Davidson wins this game, then nothing will change. They will still be unbeaten against awful teams. But, it is a road game against a rival, so I guess it’ll be a bit more challenging.
-UTAH STATE AT MISSOURI STATE. I don’t think Utah State will be on the tournament radar in the end, but right now they have just one loss at Duke.
-LIPBSCOMB AT BELMONT. This is a rivalry game that Belmont simply cannot afford to lose.
-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT WESTERN KENTUCKY. This is a rivalry game, and if EKU can win it, they are out to a noticeable 7-1 start.
-MIAMI FL AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). If Nebraska wants to hold out any hope of being relevant this year, they need to be able to win at home in games like this. Miami is coming off a rather surprising loss to Northeastern, but they’re still a really good team and this is the kind of road game that they’re capable of winning.
-LOUISIANA TECH AT MEMPHIS. LA Tech is unbeaten, and the more they keep winning, the more seriously we will take them. They’ve looked like one of the better teams in CUSA so far.
-ORAL ROBERTS AT NEW MEXICO. I don’t know if either team will be on the tournament radar at the end of the year, but as of now they each only have one loss.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT LONG BEACH STATE. After a rough start, San Diego State just picked up a win against Cal, and that’s the kind of win that can turn a season around. They still have work to do, and picking up their first true road win of the season against a pretty decent Long Beach State team who doesn’t get many showcase home games will be a good start. The Beach should really be up for this one.
BUY GAMES
-Loyola MD @ Kansas
-Mississippi Valley State @ Duquesne. Duquesne can improve to 6-1.
-Oakland @ Georgia
-UMES @ Georgetown
-Central Arkansas @ UALR. Yes, we are highlighting UALR games now!
-Alabama State @ Evansville
-Seattle @ California