Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 17th

Posted on November 17, 2015 by David Griggs

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

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Monday, November 16: Sacred Heart at Yale

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Chad

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Sacred Heart at Yale, 7:00 PM Eastern

For the rest of today’s highlighted games and David’s insanely early bracket projection, CLICK HERE.

The UTR Game of the Day heads to the state of Connecticut tonight.  On Friday, Sacred Heart and Yale played on the same court, at Central Connecticut’s campus in New Britain, but did not play each other.  Sacred Heart defeated Quinnipiac while Yale knocked off Fairfield as part of the Connecticut 6 event featuring all six noteworthy schools from the state of Connecticut (Central Connecticut and Hartford was the third matchup.  Noone else of note plays in that state, right Huskies fans?)  Tonight, the Pioneers and Bulldogs meet head to head on Yale’s home court in another in-state matchup.

Sacred Heart went 15-17 last season, ending their year with a loss to Bryant in the quarterfinals of the Northeast Conference tournament.  Keep an eye on Cane Broome for the the Pioneers, their top returning player.  Broome had 24 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals against Quinnipiac, leading or tieing for the team lead in all three categories.  If the Pioneers are going to pull off the upset tonight, they will need him to post these types of numbers again, while getting even more help from the rest of his teammates.

Yale went 22-10 last year, tieing Harvard for first place in the Ivy League at the end of the regular season.  The Bulldogs fell to the Crimson, however, in a thrilling one-game playoff for the league crown and automatic bid, 53-51, and chose not to play in the CBI or CIT when the NIT did not come calling.  They should be led by Justin Sears and Jack Montague this season, though it was Makai Mason (23 points) and Brandon Sherrod (20 points) that led the way in the win over Fairfield.  In fact, Sears was held scoreless in the first half of that game and to only 6 points overall.  He will need to play much better as Yale moves through the season if they seriously want a shot at their first NCAA tournament bid since 1962.

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Bracket Projections (and Highlighted Games): Monday, November 16th

Posted on November 16, 2015 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-We will be recording our Hoops HD Report Podcast tonight and posting it tomorrow.  We’ll review all of the action from the opening weekend, and looking at the upcoming exempt tournaments

-Grand Canyon won their opener against Portland State.  They are our favorites to finish first in the WAC, and we would be projecting them into the field if they were eligible, but because they are a transitional team, they are not.  Grand Canyon is our adopted team!!  They are the Team of the People!!  LET’S FIGHT FOR THE LOPES!!  Tweet at the NCAA!!  #LopesWaiver

 

BRACKET NOTES

-You don’t need to tell me that doing brackets this early is pointless, or that the bracket below looks completely insane.  I know that.  So, why do a bracket when most teams have only played one game??  In truth, it’s not very practical to build a bracket that forecasts anything at this point because all 351 teams are separated by just two games.  Going through this process is more about beginning to monitor the teams than it is evaluating their tournament resumes (which only have one game on them at this point), so you have to look at this in that context.

-There are basically three categories of teams right now; Teams that we think are good but haven’t challenged themselves, teams that we think are good but who lost to weak teams, and teams who we feel aren’t quite so good but who won a big game and therefore earned a good seed.  In other words….

North Carolina, Duke, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, Arizona, Indiana, and several others haven’t beaten anyone that was all that hard to beat, but they haven’t done anything to show that they aren’t deserving of being highly ranked.

North Florida, Belmont, Radford, William & Mary, James Madison, Western Illinois, Sacramento State, and Chattanooga are all teams that for the most part aren’t likely to end up inside the bubble (although I do think Valpo, Belmont, and perhaps William & Mary might), but they all went on the road and won a game against a good team.  So, they’re all inside the bubble now.

Wisconsin, UCLA, Xavier, and Utah are teams that we think will likely end up very safely in the field, but who either lost a game to a weak team or really struggled against a weak team at home, so they’re seeded poorly or not in the field at all.

-One more thing that you are not likely to see in March is the bubble being at the #14 line, but with so many teams from what are normally one-bid leagues winning big games over the weekend it pushes them up the seed list ahead of the teams on the bubble.  For now.  I don’t anticipate it staying that way.

-There were 97 teams that we considered for the field, and all are listed below in the “Seed List Notes.”

-And, like I said earlier, I know it looks crazy.  You don’t need to tell me that.  The reason it looks crazy is because of what was stated above.

 

Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 12.11.20 AM

Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 7.39.27 PM

 

SEED LIST NOTES

1. NORTH CAROLINA – 2-0 with a neutral win vs Temple
2. Duke – 2-0
3. KENTUCKY – 2-0
4. GONZAGA – game against Pitt was cancelled
5. Virginia – 1-0
6. MARYLAND – 1-0
7. KANSAS – 1-0
8. Oklahoma
9. ARIZONA – 1-0
10. Indiana – 1-0. Won easily against Eastern Illinois
11. Iowa State – 1-0 with a win over Colorado
12. VILLANOVA – 1-0. Big win against Fairleigh Dickinson
13. CINCINNATI – 2-0. Impressive showing in both wins
14. Baylor – 1-0. Blasted a good SFA team
15. WICHITA STATE – 1-0
16. Purdue – 2-0. Dominated NC A&T and Vermont
17. Connecticut – 1-0
18. California – 1-0
19. Butler – 1-0. Destroyed the Citadel
20. Vanderbilt – 1-0.
21. Lsu – 1-0. Struggled to beat McNeese State
22. Providence – 1-0. Beat a pretty good Harvard team
23. Michigan. 1-0. Has not yet played a div1 team
24. Notre Dame – 1-0
25. Miami FL – 1-0
26. Michigan State 1-0. Dominated Florida Atlantic
27. WILLIAM & MARY. 1-0. Decisive road win at NC State
28. NORTH FLORIDA – 1-0. Decisive road win at Illinois
29. SAN DIEGO STATE – 1-0. Beat a decent Illinois State team
30. DAYTON – 1-0. Decisive win against SEMO
31. West Virginia – 1-0
32. James Madison – 1-0. Impressive road win at Richmond
33. Rhode Island – 1-0. Beat American, but lost a E. C. Matthews to injury
34. Florida State – 1-0
35. VALPARAISO – 2-0. Decisive win against a good Iona team
36. WESTERN ILLINOIS – 1-0. Won at Wisconsin
37. RADFORD – 1-0. Won at Georgetown
38. MONMOUTH – 1-0. Won at UCLA
39. CHATTANOOGA – won at Georgia
40. Vcu – 1-0
41. BELMONT – 1-0. Won at Marquette
42. Oregon – 1-0
43. Utah – 1-0. Struggled against a very weak Southern Utah team
44. Ohio State – 1-0. Dominated a fairly decent Mount Saint Mary’s team
45. Xavier – 1-0. Struggled against what appears to be a weak Miami OH team
46. Louisville – 1-0
47. Wake Forest – Nice road win at Bucknell
48. SACRAMENTO STATE – 1-0. Won @ Arizona State
49. Auburn – 1-0. Has several injured players, but still beat UAB
50. OLD DOMINION – 1-0
51. Tulsa – 1-0
52. Utah State – 1-0. David Collette has left the team, which will hurt
53. Byu – 1-0
54. Texas A&M. 1-0
55. Davidson – 1-0. Struggled against UCF
56. Florida – 1-0
57. Washington – 1-0. Win against Texas in China
58. Northeastern – 1-0. Road win at Boston U.
59. Iowa – 1-0. Win over Gardner Webb
60. Oregon State – has yet to play a div1 game
61. Evansville – 1-0. Win against SEMO
62. CENTRAL MICHIGAN – 1-0. Struggled to beat Jacksonville St.
63. Loyola Chicago – 2-0. Just one div1 win against UTSA
64. UC IRVINE – 1-0
65. LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE – has yet to play a div1 team
66. Saint Joe’s – 1-0. Win against a decent Drexel team
67. George Washington – 1-0.
68. COLUMBIA – Has not yet played a div1 team
69. ALBANY – Good showing against Kentucky
70. Oklahoma State – 1-0
71. Northwestern – 1-0. Beat a weak UMass Lowell team
72. South Dakota State – has not yet played a div1 team
73. NORTH DAKOTA STATE – 1-1
74. Wisconsin – 1-1. Lost to Western Illinois
75. Minnesota – 2-0. Beat a fairly decent ULM team
76. Colorado State – 1-0. Won at Northern Iowa
77. DePaul – 1-0. Nice win against a fairly decent Western Michigan team
78. Seton Hall – 2-0, but wins came against low caliber teams
79. Texas – 0-1. Lost to Washington
80. South Carolina – 1-0. Win against Norfolk St.
81. STEPHEN F AUSTIN – 0-1. Blown out by Baylor
82. Nebraska – 1-0
83. Creighton – 1-0. Dominated Texas Southern
84. Georgetown – 0-1. Lost to Radford.
85. New Mexico – 2-0. Won at New Mexico State
86. Boise State – 0-1. lost at Montana
87. Ole Miss – 1-0
88. Stanford – 2-0. Struggled against Green Bay
89. Nevada – 2-0. Decisive win against Coastal Carolina
90. Fresno State – 1-0. Struggled to beat Pepperdine
91. Unlv – 1-0. Barely beat Cal Poly
92. Georgia – 0-1. Lost at home to Chattanooga
93. Ucla – 1-1. Lost to Radford. Struggled with Cal Poly
94. BUCKNELL – 0-1. Lost at home to a good Wake Forest team
95. NEW MEXICO STATE – 1-1
96. ALABAMA A&M – 1-0. Won against Tulane
97. HAMPTON – 0-1
98. SACRED HEART – 1-0. Only NEC team to win a div1 game so far

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH

-VIRGINIA AT GEORGE WASHINGTON.  Virginia loves to play an early road game against a regional team every year.  It’s a chance for them to pick up a notable road win if they win, and it’s not overly damaging for them if they don’t win.  It’s a huge chance for GW to take on a highly ranked team on their home floor.

-JAMES MADISON AT WEST VIRGINIA.  This is a big game for a James Madison.  They’re a good team, and this is the kind of win that would impress the committee and land them inside the bubble.

-LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE AT MIAMI FL.  Louisiana Lafayette is one of the favorites to win the Sun Belt.  This is a big test for them as they take on what looks to be a good Miami team that won their first game.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT UTAH.  Both teams won their first game and appear to be solid NCAA Tournament teams, so it’ll be a quality win for whoever pulls it off.

-UTRGV AT NORTH FLORIDA.  North Florida had a big win in their first game and shouldn’t have too much trouble improving to 2-0 in their home opener.

-BELMONT AT ARIZONA STATE.  Belmont already has one notable road win at Marquette, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they picked up another one tonight against an Arizona State team who lost their home opener.

-BAYLOR AT OREGON.  Both teams are 1-0 and are likely tournament teams.  Baylor looked very impressive in their opener as they blasted a pretty good SFA team.

-BUFFALO AT OLD DOMINION.  ODU won their opener and can improve to 2-0 as they take on a Buffalo team that’s rebuilding.

-TENNESSEE AT GEORGIA TECH.  I’m not expecting too much from either team this year, but as for now both are 1-0.

-ORAL ROBERTS AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  Both teams are 1-0.

-COLUMBIA AT KANSAS STATE.  Columbia is one of the favorites to win the Ivy League.  K State, who won their opener, is their first div1 opponent and it wouldn’t shock me at all if the Lions pulled it out.

-NORTHERN ARIZONA AT BOISE STATE.  Boise doesn’t have a huge margin for error if they want to make the NCAAs, so they need to rebound after losing their opener.

-BYU AT LONG BEACH STATE.  BYU won their opener and will try to add a road win to their resume.

-ELON AT MICHIGAN.  Buy game, but Elon did win their opener.

-AUSTIN PEAY AT INDIANA.  Buy game.

-NC A&T AT FLORIDA.  Buy game.

-CHICAGO STATE AT IOWA STATE. Buy game.

-SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AT TEXAS A&M. Buy game

-ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF AT OKLAHOMA STATE.  Buy game.  Both teams are 1-0.

-GARDNER WEBB AT VANDERBILT.  Buy game

-KENNESAW STATE AT LSU.  Buy game

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT CALIFORNIA.  Buy game.  Both teams 1-0.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day Sunday, November 15: Iona at Valparaiso

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Chad

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Iona at Valparaiso, 2:30 PM Eastern, espn3

There really was only one choice for today’s UTR Game of the Day as the favorites in two of the stronger UTR conferences meet up in Valparaiso, Indiana.  The MAAC’s Iona Gaels enter today’s game (their first on the young season) with one of the deadliest mid-major backcourts in the entire nation.  They are led by A.J.English, who should win his conference’s Player of the Year award.  English averaged 20.1 point and 5.1 rebounds per game last season, and could score even more now that last season’s second leading scorer, David Laury, is gone.  Schadrac Casimir and Isaiah Williams join English in the backcrout to provide the Gaels with a three-headed monster that very few teams will be able to slow down.  Last year, Iona dominated the MAAC, going 17-3 in conference play before falling to Manhattan in the conference tournament title game and winding up in the NIT.

Iona will start their season today with a very tough road test at Valpo.  The Crusaders appear to be loaded this season, and are the clear favorites to repeat their Horizon League regular season and tournament championships.  They are led by Alec Peters, who averaged 16.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game last year, and led the way with 24 points and 7 boards in the team’s win Friday night over IP-Fort Wayne.  Valpo has a chance to make a statement win today, and will get more with trips to Rhode Island, Oregon, Oregon State and Belmont all looming ahead over the few months (together with a home game against the same Belmont team).  A solid record in these key non-conference games, combined with a Horizon League regular season championship, may be all the Crusaders will need this year to punch a dance ticket — even if something goes wrong in the conference tournament.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, November 14, 2015: Hampton at Winthrop

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Chad

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Hampton at Winthrop, 4:00 PM Eastern, bigsouthsports.com

Today’s UTR Game of the Day comes to us from Rock Hill, South Carolina as the Big South’s Winthrop Eagles host the MEAC’s Hampton Pirates in the season debut for both teams.  Winthrop is coming off of a 19-13 season that saw them tie for third place in the Big South conference and advance to the conference tournament championship game, falling there to Coastal Carolina.  The Eagles should be led this season by guard Keon Johnson who averaged 11.5 points per game last year.  Unfortunately for the team, last year’s top scorer Keon Moore is gone, meaning that Johnson will need to get scoring help from his remaining teammates if the Eagles want to contend for the league crown again.

Hampton enters today’s game as our preseason pick to win the MEAC title.  The Pirates were 12-17 last year heading into the MEAC tournament, but proceeded to pull out four straight wins as the 6 seed and advance to the NCAA tournament.  They then knocked off Manhattan in the First Four before falling by 23 points to top seed Kentucky in the Round of 64, ending the year at 17-18.  This season, the Pirates welcome back their almost every key player, and with the experience they gained in their great run at the end of last season, have a chance to be even more successful this time around.  With some of the other key players in the MEAC having suffered offseason losses, the Pirates should have all of the pieces to contend for a return trip to the Big Dance this year.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day for Friday, Nov 13 — Vermont at Eastern Michigan

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Chad

Vermont at Eastern Michigan, 11:00 AM Eastern, espn3

For a preview of other highlighted games this weekend, CLICK HERE.

Welcome to the 2015-16 college basketball season!

The season tips off this year, as it does almost every year, in Ypsilanti, Michigan as the Eastern Michigan Eagles out of the MAC will be hosting the America East’s Vermont Catamounts.  As this is the first official game between two Division I programs, it is also our first Under the Radar Game of the Day.  The UTR Game of the Day will be coming to you almost every day between now and the first week in March, spotlighting games involving teams that are not in the nine historically multi-bid leagues (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC, American, Atlantic Ten and Mountain West) and that are not currently ranked in the Top 25 (sorry Wichita State and Gonzaga!).  We will be focusing in on games of note for one reason or another, and trying to have a lot of fun doing it.  Of course, don’t miss our weekly Under the Radar video podcasts either, where members of the HOOPS HD crew will go into even more in-depth analysis of some of our favorite programs that are not on being discussed by the national media.

 For today’s game, Eastern Michigan has developed a very “Under the Radar” tradition in the past few years of almost always playing the very first game of the college hoops season (though last year Eastern Washington hosted Texas Southern at some ridiculously early hour on the west coast to trump the Eagles).  Most years the game is played against a non-D1 opponent, but not this season.  The Eagles welcome in the Vermont Catamounts for what could be an entertaining game, especially if the Eagles can get their fans pumped up for some Friday morning hoops!

 EMU was a solid 21-14 last season, finishing in fourth place in the MAC’s West Division and advancing to postseason play in the CBI, where they fell in the first round to Louisiana-Monroe.  Unfortunately for the Eagles, only one starter returns from that squad.  The good news is that player is Raven Lee, who finished second in the conference in scoring at 16.7 points per game.  Lee, who is only a junior, should post even bigger numbers this season as he will be the Eagles first, second and probably third option on offense each time down the court.

 Vermont, in contrast to EMU, returns four starters from last year’s team that went 20-15 and finished tied for second place in the America East.  Vermont’s season was also ended by Louisiana-Monroe last year, in the semifinals of the CBI.  This year’s team should be led by Ethan O’Day, and bolstered by the addition of Hofstra transfer Darren Payne.  Although the top of the America East looks stacked this season (with the likes of Albany, Stony Brook and New Hampshire all expected to contend), the Catamounts are definitely eyeing the conference championship and a chance to return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2012.  They are also going for their 8th straight 20 win season, the longest current run by any New England team (and yes, that is a longer streak than UConn).

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