For today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
Bros under the basket, cheerleaders, a little Jim Calhoun, a little Mike Wilbon: something for everyone!
And here’s what the court storming looked like after GW knocked off #6 Virginia
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Here is a look back at yesterday and a rundown of all of today’s action….
NEWS AND NOTES
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-We will be recording our Under the Radar Podcast and posting it sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Be sure and check it out.
-***RANT ALERT***
-Georgetown and Maryland played for the first time since 1993 in what was perhaps the greatest atmosphere and highest level of intensity I’ve seen in the month of November in quite some time. Georgetown led for much of the game, Maryland ended up being ahead when time ran out. It was great to FINALLY see these two go at it again after 22 years of not playing for stupid and petty reasons. But, part of me is also a little upset to see what we’d been missing for close to a quarter of a century. But, I’m glad it’s back, and I’m glad it is going to continue.
-The vast majority of brand name programs are reluctant to play regional teams with smaller brands on equal terms, or in many cases they simply do not play teams like that at all. For example, Ohio State won’t play anyone on equal terms from the state of Ohio (Cincinnati, Dayton, Xavier, etc). Kansas won’t play Wichita State. Although Louisville and Western Kentucky do now play home and home, Kentucky does not play WKU or Murray State on equal terms. I believe Kentucky has never played Murray State….EVER. While we got the series back between Georgetown and Maryland, the Hoyas still won’t play George Washington. The thinking is that the bigger brand name team has everything to lose and nothing to gain. That’s too bad, because games like that could generate interest at a time in the season when there really needs to be more interest generated. And, you know what?? Teams really don’t have everything to lose and nothing to gain. In fact, I think they have far more to gain than to lose, even if they don’t always win a game like that…
Virginia is one of the few teams that embraces playing in games like that. They do it every year. They’ve played at Old Dominion, VCU, James Madison, George Washington, and I believe are going to William & Mary next year. And, they’ve lost some of those games. They went to George Washington and lost the other night in a very intense and exciting game. Yet, their brand name is not damaged. Their program did not suffer a setback. Hell, their SEASON didn’t even suffer a setback! Yes, they lost to GW, and no one likes to lose. But, other than it bruising their egos a little bit, it’s not a bad loss. If anything, they get acclimated to playing on the road in hostile environments a lot sooner than most other teams.
Wisconsin is another team that plays at Milwaukee and at Green Bay regularly. They almost lost at Green Bay two years ago, but didn’t, and ended up making the Final Four. Had Wiscy lost to Green Bay….I still think they end up making the Final Four. We need MORE games like that, not less. It generates interest in the sport, it makes the teams better, and no one who does it loses everything and gains nothing. It’s a hell of a lot better than staying home, eating cupcakes, and getting fat.
Okay, rant over.
-Kentucky looked very impressive last night in knocking off Duke. I know we’re not even six days into the season yet, but I haven’t seen a team look better.
-I wasn’t that big on Michigan State coming into the year, but I am now. That was a very impressive win against a very good (albeit shorthanded) Kansas team on a neutral floor. What’s more impressive is how they won. They trailed most of the game, but stayed in there.
-Memphis is a program that used to have rabid fanbase, but those fans are now dormant. I wasn’t expecting much from them at all this year, but they hung in tough with a very good Oklahoma team. The Sooners still pulled it out, but they didn’t walk away with it.
-Tulsa knocked off Wichita State at home in a game that they pretty much led wire to wire. I know it was a home game, but Wichita is historically a very tough road team.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-UC IRVINE AT UCF. I don’t think UC Irvine will ultimately land inside the bubble, but I do think they’re a good team and they come in 1-0. Plus we get to see a battle of two 7’6″ monsters!
-EDWARD WATERS (nondiv1) AT NORTH FLORIDA. A win gets UNF to 3-0, and although this win wouldn’t be impressive in and of itself, they’re off to a fantastic start.
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT BELMONT. Belmont ended up falling to Arizona State, who isn’t bad, but their probably not a tournament team and that’s the kind of game that an at-large team needs to be able to win most of the time. Being in a weaker conference means Belmont needs to make a strong case for themselves out of conference.
-ILLINOIS AT PROVIDENCE. Illinois bounced back from their season opening loss with a win against a decent but not great North Dakota State team. Providence looked good in their opener against Harvard. This will be a notable win for whoever pulls it off.
-BUFFALO AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. I’m still expecting Saint Joe’s to have a less than stellar year, but a win gets them to 3-0 for now.
-WOFFORD AT NORTH CAROLINA. I think Wofford will get it going once they get into SoCon play, but they’re way overmatched tonight.
-CINCINNATI AT BOWLING GREEN. Cincinnati has been way undermatched, but they’ve still looked very impressive in both games. They hit the road to take on a Bowling Green team that won their opener and should welcome the chance to face a brand name program at home.
-RICHMOND AT WAKE FOREST. Some are expecting Wake to be a bit of a dark horse. They won their opener at Bucknell, which isn’t the toughest game to win, but it’s far from the easiest.
-KENT STATE AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. Not much is expected out of either team, but as of now both are unbeaten.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT NEW MEXICO. I think Loyola has an outside shot at making the tournament, but this is the kind of game that they’re going to need to be able to win if that’s going to happen. New Mexico has won both their games, including a road win against rival New Mexico State in their last game.
BUY GAMES
-IUPUI @ NC State
-Incarnate Word @ Purdue
-IU Kokomo (nondiv1) @ Valparaiso
-Northern Arizona @ Gonzaga
-Kennesaw State @ Arizona State
-San Diego Christian (nondiv1) @ San Diego State
-Southern Utah @ UNLV
-Morgan State @ Old Dominion
Under the Radar Game of the Day – Bucknell at Robert Morris, 7:00 PM, necfrontrow.com
A few weeks ago, David Griggs asked me to prepare a Preseason Bracket. I said no. He asked me again. I told him that Preseason Brackets were pointless and meaningless. He asked me again. And again. And again. Finally, just to shut him up, I made one. In that bracket, I gave Bucknell a 14 seed as the automatic bid winner from the Patriot League and Robert Morris a 16 seed (and a spot in the First Four) as the automatic bid winner from the Northeast Conference. Although championships are won on the court and not in a preseason bracket, given that two of the teams I had picked to win their leagues are matching up tonight, this game was the natural pick as the Under the Radar Game of the Day.
Bucknell enters tonight’s game at 1-1 on the season, having beaten non-D1 Shenandoah before losing a home game over the weekend by 8 points to Wake Forest. Chris Hass has been leading the way for the Bison so far this season, having scored 26 points against Wake and 18 against Shenandoah. The Bison have a pair of challenging road games this week as they will follow up tonight’s trip to Robert Morris with a visit to last season’s MAAC automatic bid winner, Manhattan. If they want to prove themselves a favorite in the Patriot League (and a team worthy of the 14 line if they get the conference’s bid), winning games such as the two they play this week will be very important.
Robert Morris enters tonight’s game at 0-2, having lost at Penn and at Cincinnati to start the season. The Colonials will be looking to bounce back in their home opener tonight, and trying to forget what the Bearcats did to them this past weekend (a 106-44 thumping). Rodney Pryor has been the team’s best player so far, having scored 28 against Penn and 17 against Cincy. However, it is the defense that needs to improve tonight — if the Colonials allow 57 bench points to Bucknell tonight as they did against the Bearcats, they could be in for a very long night, and maybe a very long season too. Tonight’s game is also RMU’s lone chance to impress their home fans in the month of November, as they will not be back home again until December 5.
LINKS
-For the daily rundown of all of today’s highlighted games – CLICK HERE
Welcome to the first Hoops HD Report of the regular season. The main topic tonight is previewing and discussing all of the upcoming exempt tournaments. Chad is joined by Jon, John, and David and they review some of the surprises from this past weekend, particularly Western Illinois over Wisconsin, Chattanooga over Georgia, Monmouth over UCLA, and Radford over Georgetown. They also take a look at how college basketball starts off too slowly as compared to other sports, and David talks about how frustrating it is to see so many mismatches in half empty arenas during the first night of the season. They also look ahead to the upcoming games this week and give a preview of those.
But, as mentioned earlier, the main topic is the exempt tournaments. They run through each of the bracketed tournaments, look at all the teams that are in them, talk about how important these events are to teams from lower level conferences who can get the chance to build their NCAA Tournament resumes by playing and beating quality teams, and pick who they think will win each one.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show…
We are in the middle of the Tip-Off Marathon!! Here is all of today’s action…
For all the TV listings, check out the best viewing guide on the internet at MattSarzSports.com by CLICKING HERE
-KENTUCKY VS DUKE (Chicago, IL) (***Spotlight Game***). This is a fantastic early season match-up that many thought we’d see in the National Title game last year. I think both teams are #1 seed caliber teams, and both could end up making the Final Four. Winning a game like this is certainly the kind of win that can get a team on the #1 line.
-GEORGETOWN AT MARYLAND (***Spotlight Game***) FINALLY!!! The two teams are finally playing each other after 20 plus years of a nonsensical feud as to whose turn it was to host the game. Georgetown lost their season opener to Radford in what was one of the bigger surprises of the young season so far. Perhaps they were looking ahead. Many are talking about Maryland as if they are a Final Four caliber team. We’ll see what they can do in their first real test tonight.
-BLACK HILLS STATE (nondiv1) AT GRAND CANYON. The Team of the People try to improve to 2-0!! Your Lopes, Ladies and Gentlemen!!! To watch the game live – CLICK HERE #LopesWaiver!!
-NEVADA AT HAWAI’I. Not much was expected out of Nevada, but they won their first game and picking up a road win at Hawai’i will give them some good early momentum.
-SFA AT NORTHERN IOWA. This was a great game last year. SFA was blown out by Baylor in their first game and if they want any hope at all of impressing the selection committee they really need this road win because, quite frankly, they don’t have many at even semi-notable wins.
-VALPARAISO AT RHODE ISLAND. Rhode Island has suffered a devastating injury that will likely make the difference of them being a solid NCAA Team to missing the field entirely. Valpo is another team that’s trying to land inside the bubble and they need to win road games like this in order to do it.
-ALABAMA AT DAYTON. Both teams won their first game. I have more questions than answers about Bama at this point, and they will certainly be tested today.
-COLORADO AT AUBURN. Colorado hung in tough with Iowa State in their first game, and could give an injury ridden Auburn team a run in this game. Neither team is expected to make the tournament by that many people, but I feel both have a shot and this would be a good early season win for whoever pulls it off.
-DEPAUL AT PENN STATE. Neither of these teams are expected to do all that much, but right now both are 1-0.
-OKLAHOMA AT MEMPHIS. Oklahoma is expected by some to be a Final Four caliber team. Memphis….not so much. Memphis hasn’t had much electricity around their program in quite some time now, and they’ll need to win a game like this in order to get it back. That’s much easier said than done.
-MISSOURI AT XAVIER. Neither team has lost yet, but Xavier is at home and clearly appears to be the superior team right now, despite struggling in their season opener against a weak Miami OH team.
-UMASS AT HARVARD. This was a great game last year, and Harvard is trying to rebound from their season opening loss. They’re one of the favorites to win the Ivy. Not much is expected at all out of UMass, but they did win their first game.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SYRACUSE. Both teams are 1-0, and although it appears to be a mismatch in favor of Syracuse, Saint Bonaventure is a program that appears to be improving.
-MILWAUKEE AT NOTRE DAME. I know this is a Buy Game, but Milwaukee comes in 3-0 so we’ll see what they can do against the Irish on the road.
-WICHITA STATE AT TULSA. This is a fantastic match up between a highly ranked and very good Wichita team, and a Tulsa team who we feel is good enough to play their way into the NCAA Tournament. It’s a great chance for them to get a shot against a ranked team at home, and winning tonight would go a long way toward building their profile.
-NEBRASKA AT VILLANOVA. Nebraska won their first game decisively, but they’ve got a much taller order tonight against a very good Nova team on the road.
-KANSAS VS MICHIGAN STATE (Chicago, IL). We feel that Michigan State is slightly overrated and that Kansas is a Final Four contender. Michigan State can certainly prove us wrong if they can pull off the upset win tonight.
-IONA AT OREGON STATE. Iona was surprisingly blown out in their season opener against Valpo. They now travel to take on an Oregon State team who is one of our dark horses to potentially sneak into the NCAA.
-UIC AT WESTERN ILLINOIS. I don’t know how long Western Illinois will stay on our radar, but they did win their season opener against Wisconsin, so they definitely have our attention right now.
-WILLIAM & MARY AT LIBERTY. William & Mary won convincingly against NC State in their first game and can improve to 2-0 on the season by picking up their second road win tonight.
BUY GAMES
-Hartford @ Louisville
-Grambling @ Ohio State
-New Hampshire @ UConn
-St. Joseph’s IN (nondiv1) @ Pittsburgh
-North Dakota @ Wisconsin
-Jacksonville @ Florida State
Under the Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, November 17: Black Hills State at Grand Canyon
Let the Lopes Dance!!!
Under the Radar Game of the Day: Black Hills State at Grand Canyon, 9:00 PM Eastern, COX7/free streaming here.
For our most recent HOOPS HD Report and links to other games of note today, CLICK HERE.
#LopesWaiver
Two years ago, the Grand Canyon Antelopes began their transition up to the Division I level. Under NCAA rules, a team must undergo four transitional years before they can become a full-fledged member of D1. In terms of men’s basketball, this means that a team is ineligible during those four seasons to compete in the NCAA Tournament (or the NIT Tournament for that matter). Thus, during these four transitional years, a team’s only chance for postseason play must come from one of the other tournaments (CBI, CIT or the new Vegas 16). The GCU Lopes have done exactly that, qualifying for the CIT in each of their first two seasons. This year, they were our preseason selection to win the WAC regular season championship — but because they are still in transition, a return to the CIT (which is a tournament that we do have a ton of affection for here at HOOPS HD) is their cap again. Unless, of course, we can get the rules changed. That is what #LopesWaiver is all about.
The rules, as they are set right now, say the GCU cannot be in the NCAA or NIT this year or next, even if they win the WAC regular season title. The WAC has determined that because GCU is ineligible, they will not be permitted to play in the WAC Tournament (though notably the NCAA does allow conferences to have ineligible teams play in conference tournaments and set rules for who receives the automatic bid if the ineligible teams wins). We here at HOOPS HD find this rule fundamentally unfair. A team that wins its league title should be given a shot at the automatic bid (and if they fall in the conference tournament, should get the automatic NIT bid). Therefore, the Rule change is simple:
“Transitional teams that play a full Division I schedule, while ineligible for at-large consideration, will be allowed to participate in the NCAA or NIT Tournament if they automatically qualify for same as their conference’s representative.”
Let’s be clear, we are not asking for a special rule for Grand Canyon alone. Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, Mass-Lowell and Northern Kentucky are all transitional teams this year and should be given the same opportunity. During a team’s first year of the four year transition, it is not required to play a full Division I schedule. If it doesn’t, then it should clearly not be eligible for the national championship tournament. However, if a team plays a full schedule against D1 competition and proves that it is the best team in its conference (as determined by the conference rules in giving out its automatic bid), they should be given a chance!
The NCAA has set forth its core values. This is the list:
“The Association – through its member institutions, conferences and national office staff – shares a belief in and commitment to:
[Source: http://www.ncaa.org/about/ncaa-core-values]
The NCAA believes in participation and the highest levels of sportmanship. It believes in excellence in athletics. And it believes in an inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation. How is telling a group of student athletes that has competed and won at the highest levels of its conference that they are not allowed to be one of 68 teams with a chance to compete for the national championship supporting these values? How is it sportsmanlike? How does it promote excellence? How is it inclusive and equitable?????? If you want the answer to that, just ask former Nebraska-Omaha track star Sami Spenner. You can read her story here.
Tonight, the Grand Canyon Lopes host Division II Black Hills State. We fully expect the Lopes to win this game, but that is not the reason it was our choice for the UTR Game of the Day. The reason was to raise awareness for these rules, for the Lopes predicament, and to get the #LopesWaiver campaign running even stronger. LET THE LOPES PLAY! Tweet @ncaa! Call them! Write them! The Rules are unfair to a great group of kids that have a legitimate chance this season to play well enough to earn what may be a potentially once-in-a-lifetime dream trip to the Big Dance, but because the NCAA is not promoting participation, sportsmanship, excellence and inclusive/equitable rules, the only way that Coach Majerele’s squad will be at a Tournament game is if they buy tickets. This is not fair!
#LopesWaiver
Let the Lopes Dance!!!!