Under the Radar Game of the Day – Friday, January 9, 2015: Yale at NJIT

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Chad

Yale at NJIT, 7:00 PM Eastern, No TV

With only four games on the entire Division I schedule tonight, there was not much to choose from for the UTR Game of the Day.  Therefore, we have decided to literally go to Newark, New Jersey for our adopted team, NJIT’s, home game against Yale.  Unlike so many out there these days, I am using the word “literally” in its..um..literal meaning.  Yours truly will be in attendance tonight to root on our team as the Ivy League’s Yale Bulldogs come to town.

Yale enters today’s game at 10-5 on the season and in the top 100 in RPI, BPI and KenPom ratings.  They have already scored road wins over Bryant and Sacred Heart (both of whom could contend in the Northeast Conference), Vermont (who rarely loses at home), and one of the better teams in one of the top Under The Radar conferences, Connecticut.  They also played very well at Vanderbilt, losing in double overtime last time out.  The Bulldogs will be looking to bounce back from that loss and pick up a victory in their final non-conference test tonight.  (Yale does have one more non-conference game left, but it is against non-D1 Daniel Webster and unless they decide to have a spelling bee instead of a basketball game, it should not be a real test).

Our NJIT Highlanders, the adopted team of HOOPS HD this season, enter tonight’s game at 8-9, with a chance to reach (for now at least) that magical .500 mark tonight.  With the win at Michigan already in the books, it is our firm belief here that as long as the Highlanders finish .500 or better on the season, the CIT should come calling.  Given that 8 of their remaining 12 games are all at home, with four of those coming against non-D1 competition, NJIT has a great chance to get that first ever postseason invite.  A win tonight over Yale will put them well on their way there.

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Highlighted Games for Thursday, Jan 8th

Posted on January 8, 2015 by David Griggs

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

 

TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTED ACTION

-OLD DOMINION AT MARSHALL (Conference USA).  ODU is in to the rankings, and no one else in the league appears to be as good as they are.

-DAYTON AT SAINT BONAVENTURE (Atlantic Ten).  Dayton has had some really bad luck which has depleted their roster, but you’d never know it by watching them play or by looking at their record.  They’re going for their fifth straight win tonight against a Saint Bona team that’s pretty good at home.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT IOWA (Big Ten).  Iowa has been good but still has room for improvement.  Michigan State really needs a road win like this because they are looking very bubblish right now, if they’re even that good.

-LSU AT MISSOURI (SEC).  LSU has been somewhat surprising.  They have just two losses and are building a solid resume.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  This is a conference game that could end up looking very much like a buy game.

-MEMPHIS AT SMU (American).  Both teams appear to be on the outside looking in, and need to win games like this if they want any chance of making it to the inside.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT UTEP (Conference USA).  Again, both teams appear to be on the outside looking in, particularly Louisiana Tech who has been disappointing this year, but both are capable of playing really well and being a dangerous team.  UTEP could still land inside the bubble, but they have a very small margin for error.

-STANFORD AT UCLA (Pac Twelve).  UCLA keeps backtracking.  This is a conference road game that Stanford should be able to win.

-RUTGERS AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten).  It pains me to say this, but the only reason I mention this game is to mention that it is not worth mentioning.

-ARIZONA AT OREGON (Pac Twelve).  This will be a really tough road win for Arizona to win.  Oregon has looked like they could be a tournament team, and they’re not going to be easy to beat at home in a showcase game.

-PEPPERDINE AT BYU (West Coast).  BYU is good, but their current margin for error is very very very small.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day for Thursday, January 8, 2015: Hofstra at College of Charleston

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Chad

Check out our latest Under the Radar podcast: CLICK HERE

Hofstra at College of Charleston, 7:30 PM Eastern, Local TV in Charleston, free streaming at caa.tv

The UTR Game of the Day heads to beautiful Charleston, South Carolina tonight for a Colonial Athletic Association matchup between the College of Charleston Cougars and the visiting Hofstra Pride.  College of Charleston, once a dominant force in the Southern Conference, has followed up a 14-18 initial campaign through the CAA last season with a 5-10 start to this year.  The Cougars were the focus of some ugly offseason news where a scandal led to the firing of head coach Doug Wojick and the hiring of Earl Grant late in the offseason.  Despite treading water early, starting the year 5-4, the Cougars are now on a six game losing streak including having dropped their first two conference games of the year.  All indications so far are that this will be a long season as Coach Grant attempts to rebuild the program.  A win tonight, however, could start to turn things around.

Heading into the season, the CAA appeared to us to be a two team race between Northeastern and William & Mary.  While the early non-conference season seemed to confirm that, Hoftsra slowly flew in not only under the national radar but even (one could say) under the “Under the Radar” crew’s radar.  However, we have now noticed the Pride and are definitely aware that we have a three team race in the CAA.  The Pride enter tonight’s game at 111-4 overall and 2-0 in early CAA play.  They have the highest BPI (74) and KenPom (83) ratings in the conference.  While none of the Pride’s wins have been exceptionally noteworthy (a home win over Stony Brook may be the best of the lot), the Pride have certainly learned how to win games and have momentum as we move deeper into the conference season.  With the entire CAA being down a bit this year (David and I discussed Delaware’s almost amazing fall from grace during this week’s podcast, below), this could be the perfect chance for the Pride to sneak in and steal the conference title.  Of course, to do so, the Pride must win conference games on the road — which is exactly their challenge tonight.

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Under the Radar: January 7th

Posted on January 8, 2015 by David Griggs

After a hiatus for Christmas (allegedly), and another for New Year’s (also allegedly), Chad and David are back for the first Under the Radar edition of conference play.  On this episode they run through all 23 of the non-power leagues, and talk about which teams have looked the best so far.  They also reveal this week’s edition of their UTR Top Ten, and preview the upcoming games.

 

And for all you radio fans, below is an mp3 audio version of the show…..

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Highlighted Games for Wednesday, Jan 7th

Posted on January 7, 2015 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-Charlotte coach Allen Major is sidelined for health reasons.  Our thoughts are with him.

-Ole Miss put on a great performance last night.  With the exception of about a thirty second stretch at the end of regulation where they were forced into a turnover, and then took a poor shot when they had time to run a play and win the game at the end of regulation, it was a fantastic effort and performance.  They didn’t have a great profile, but that win would have made it worth looking at.

-Conference play is officially in full swing!  In addition to Ole Miss v Kentucky, Arkansas won a big and exciting game at Georgia, Providence and Butler put on a show in a back and forth affair, Ohio State got a big and much needed road win at Minnesota, 11-1 Central Michigan got a big road win at Toledo which may put them inside the bubble, George Washington came from behind to beat Saint Louis in an exciting game, and Oklahoma State and Iowa State put on a show.  There are more great games tonight

 

TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NC STATE AT VIRGINIA (ACC).  NC State has a decent record, but they haven’t looked all that good.  Virginia still appears to be a #1 caliber seeded team.

-PURDUE AT WISCONSIN (ACC).  Purdue has won their first two conference games, but they’ve got one of their toughest tests of the season against a #1 seed caliber Wiscy team.

-SETON HALL AT XAVIER (Big East).  Seton Hall has been one of the biggest surprises this year, and they are now in the rankings.  Xavier has been somewhat disappointing overall, but they’re still very tough to win at home.  This would be a huge resume win for Seton Hall, not to mention it would keep them in the rankings and keep them unbeaten in the conference.

-DAVIDSON AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  Everyone knows VCU is good.  I’m not so sure people know how good Davidson is.  This is the kind of game that can legitimize them as a tournament caliber team.

-TEMPLE AT TULANE (American).  Temple has been a surprise team this year.  Tulane has been better than expected, but still hasn’t looked as good as a tournament team.  Both teams are unbeaten in league play, and Tulane has been tough at home.

-SYRACUSE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC).  Syracuse is struggling, and Georgia Tech has been very tough at home.  This is a big game between two teams who need to work on their resumes.

-FLORIDA AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC).  Speaking of surprises, South Carolina has a good record and is coming off a big win against Iowa State.  They look like they can land inside the bubble.  Florida needs big wins.  This is suddenly a much more important game than we originally thought it would be.

-BRADLEY AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley).  This is a conference game that will probably end up looking like a buy game.

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley).  See directly above.

-LOYOLA IL AT EVANSVILLE (Missouri Valley).  A huge match up between two surprise teams that still look good enough to possibly land inside the bubble.  This is also Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day.  CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

-DUKE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  It’s a Tobacco Road conference rivalry.  Sort of.

-CLEMSON AT LOUISVILLE (ACC).  If you throw out the Big South losses, Clemson has been halfway decent.  Not good, but halfway decent.  Louisville can still get a #1 seed with a strong showing in league play.

-COLORADO AT UTAH (Pac Twelve).  Colorado needs to win an improbable game like this to get their season turned around.  Utah is in the top ten, and deservedly so.

-MARYLAND AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  Illinois isn’t desperate yet, but they’re getting there.  Maryland has been a huge surprise this year and has a shot at another notable road win tonight.

-KANSAS AT BAYLOR (Big Twelve).  Baylor is having a great year, and they should be jacked up tonight for Kansas.

-TCU AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve).  I’m still not buying into TCU.  This is probably their most winnable conference road game, though.

-WYOMING AT COLORADO STATE (Front Range, Mountain West).  This is a huge conference rivalry (and mythical conference rivalry) between two teams that are having big years.  Should be fun!  I guarantee you the committee will be watching this one.

-NEVADA AT UNLV (Mountain West).  These two don’t like each other.  UNLV doesn’t have any bad losses, but they don’t have a huge margin for error.

-CALIFORINIA AT USC (Pac Twelve).  Cal needs this road win.  Or, to put it another way, they cannot afford this road loss.

 

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Under the Radar Game of the Day, Wednesday, January 7, 2015: Loyola (Chicago) at Evansville

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Chad

Loyola (Chicago) at Evansville, 8:00 PM Eastern, FSN-Regional, Fox College Sports Central and espn3

The UTR Game of the Day heads to Evansville, Indiana tonight as the Purple Aces welcomes the Loyola (Chicago) Ramblers in for a Missouri Valley Conference game.  Loyola has been one of the most surprising teams in the MVC so far this season.  Despite being picked to finish near the bottom of the standings, the Ramblers put together a 10-2 non-conference record which included wins over Texas Tech and Boise State.  They have gone 1-1 in MVC play so far as well, with a win over Bradley followed by a loss at Northern Iowa.  While the Ramblers would have to come up with several more solid wins without slipping up at all in order to even sniff an at-large bid (and that may not even be enough), they are definitely going to  be tough to beat, especially at home, and will be a very difficult out in the MVC tournament in March.

Evansville was a team that we picked to finish near the top of the MVC standings this year and so far they have, more or less, performed as we predicted.  Despite losing 19 times last season, the Aces are already 11-3 including wins over Fresno State, Belmont and Northern Iowa in their MVC opener.  The bad news for Evansville is that they pretty much gave back all the credit they earned for defeating UNI by losing an overtime game last time out at Indiana State.  While the game against the Sycamores was their big MVC in-state rivalry, it was not the type of game a team with tournament hopes can afford to lose.  The Purple Aces will have several chances to score key wins, including at least two games with Wichita State, before the season ends, but for now they need to rebound from the Indiana State loss and score a solid home win over a good Ramblers team tonight.

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