Highlighted Games for Saturday, Jan 10th

Posted on January 10, 2015 by David Griggs

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

-CINCINNATI AT CONNECTICUT (American).  I get the impression that UConn is outside the bubble and that Cincinnati is just barely inside of it, so it’s a very pivotal game for both teams.

-OHIO STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  Ohio State has had some big wins recently, and can pick up another one today.  Indiana has slipped some and could use a big win themselves.

-GEORGETOWN AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Both teams look like potential NCAA teams and can add another notable conference win to their profile.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT LA SALLE (Atlantic Ten).  I’ve been very impressed with GW so far and they should be able to add another road win to their profile.

-KENTUCKY AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  Kentucky appears to be cruising to being the #1 overall seed.

-MINNESOTA AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten).  Both teams are still outside the bubble and really need to win this.  In fact they need to win this and do a lot more.

-BUFFALO AT WESTERN MICHIGAN (MAC).  Buffalo can end up inside the bubble if they can dominate the MAC.

-LOUISVILLE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC).  Louisville has a good team, but this would be their most impressive true road win to date if they can pull it off.  UNC has dropped some games you would have expected them to win, but they’re still a really good team.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  VCU continues to improve and build their resume as the season goes on.  Like all previous years, they seem to be getting better as the season plays out.

-EVANSVILLE AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley).  Evansville is outside the bubble and needs to really kick it into gear if they want any shot at all of making the field.

-COLORADO STATE AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West, Front Range).  Colorado State has dropped their last two games after a very impressive start, and they can’t afford to lose on the road to an Air Force team that won’t end up anywhere near the NCAA Tournament.

-ALABAMA AT TENNESSEE (SEC).  Alabama hasn’t won a true road game since the 2-12-2013 season, and if they want any hope of making the NCAA Tournament that needs to change.

-SETON HALL AT CREIGHTON (Big East).  Seton Hall is in the rankings, but they need to win some big games away from home in order to sustain that they are legitimately a top 25 team.

-MARYLAND AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  Maryland has had a very impressive year and this is a winnable conference road game for them.

-TEXAS TECH AT KANSAS (Big Twelve).  Kansas shouldn’t have too much trouble winning this one.

-TULSA AT TEMPLE (American).  Temple continues to impress and they shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up this conference win today.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT WASHINGTON (Pac Twelve).  It’s basketball’s version of the Apple Cup.  This is a big rivarly, but this year it appears to be a mismatch.  It would be rather damaging to the Huskies if they weren’t able to pull this off at home.

-DEPAUL AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  Nova should roll at home and remain in contention for a #1 seed.

-BAYLOR AT TCU (Big Twelve).  This is a rivalry game that has a lot riding on it for a TCU team that bloated out its record against weak OOC opponents, but hasn’t done much since conference play started.  Both teams are still looking for their first conference win.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  Miami is on the outside looking in right now and cannot afford to lose this game.

-VANDERBILT AT ARKANSAS (SEC).  No one is all that excited about Vandy, and perhaps there is no reason to be, but they are 11-3 and if they win today they’ll be worth paying attention to.

-XAVIER AT BUTLER (Big East).  Xavier is on the bubble and needs to win some notable games on the road in order to wind up safely inside of it.  Butler is slightly safer, but still has some work to do.  This is turning in to a conference rivalry, so it’s always fun when these two get together.

-TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Texas was pasted against Oklahoma earlier this week.  Okie State has a good record, but lacks good wins so far, so there is something at stake for both teams.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT OLE MISS (SEC).  This is Ole Miss’s first game since nearly upsetting Kentucky on the road, which shows they do have some potential.  South Carolina is coming off a disappointing loss as well.  Both teams have shown they can play, but both still have a lot of work to do.

-OLD DOMINION AT WESTERN KENTUCKY (SEC).  ODU is clearly the best team in the league right now, and this will be one of their tougher road games.

-VIRGINIA AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  This is going to be a very tough road game for an unbeaten and highly ranked Virginia team.  Notre Dame has shown they can play, and they’ll be looking for a showcase win in front of their fans that will also go a long way toward building on a resume that’s already pretty good.

-BOISE STATE AT WYOMING (Mountain West).  Wyoming has just two losses and picked up a huge road win against rival Colorado State earlier this week.  If they keep playing like that they’ll be dancing.

-KANSAS STATE AT OKLAHOMA (Big Twelve).  Oklahoma should cruise against a K State team who has really struggled this year.

-DAYTON AT FORDHAM (Atlantic Ten).  Dayton is undermatched despite this being a conference road game.

-SAINT LOUIS AT DAVIDSON (Atlantic Ten).  Davidson has a nice record, but no good wins, which means they have a very small margin for error, which means losing a home game like this could kill them.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT FLORIDA (SEC).  The Gators have a lot of work to do.

-SANTA CLARA AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  Like many of Gonzaga’s conference games, this is a league game that will look like a buy game.

-IOWA STATE AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve).  Both teams are good, but both have room to improve.  WVU still doesn’t have a big time notable win, and Iowa State could use a big true road win.  Both also come in 2-0 in the league.

-LMU AT BYU (West Coast).  BYU had a damaging loss earlier in the week that will be hard to recover from.

-SOUTHERN MISS AT UTEP (Conference USA).  UTEP’s margin of error is so small that any loss between now and the end may be too much.

-GEORGIA AT LSU (SEC).  Georgia has looked good, but needs some notable road wins if they want to get into the conversation.  LSU is still in decent shape, but they need to rebound from the loss at Missouri.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, January 10, 2015: North Florida at Jacksonville

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Chad

North Florida at Jacksonville, 3:00 PM Eastern, espn3

First, congratulations to the NJIT Highlanders for our adopted team’s huge home win over Yale last night, with yours truly there to root our team on!  I know that Yale played most of the game without their top scorer, Justin Sears, and just wanted to assure everyone that I personally had nothing to do with his tooth getting knocked out early in the game.  I also wanted to give a shout out to Ky Howard for NJIT.  While he may not have the best stats at the end of the games, it was clear that the Highlanders are a vastly better team with him on the floor.  Ky literally through himself around the floor and was the spark the team needed every time a big run happened.

For today’s game, the UTR focuses in on what is (with all apologies to Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast fans) the best rivalry in the Atlantic Sun, the River City Rumble between North Florida and Jacksonville.  Round One this year takes place on Jacksonville’s home floor.  The Dolphins enter tonight’s game at 6-11 on the season while the Ospreys are 8-9.  This is the first conference game for both teams.  UNF clearly had the better non-conference season of the two, most notably scoring a 73-70 upset road win over Purdue.  While USC-Upstate and FGCU are the two clear favorites in the A-Sun this season, it would not surprise us at all if North Florida was able to hang right there with those two all season long.  In order to do that, they need to start with a win over their biggest rival this afternoon.  We would also like to point out that this is the first day of Jacksonville using its new mobile streaming that will be bringing espn3 webcasts of virtually all sporting events at the university.

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Bracket Rundown: January 8th

Posted on January 9, 2015 by David Griggs

Tonight, Chad and David run through all the teams that are inside the bubble of the most recent Hoops HD Bracket Projection, and spend some time talking about the teams on, inside, outside, and around the bubble.  They also go over the bracketing rules and procedures, and discover that they had inadvertently broken a few of them when they initially put it together, so for those of you who love blooper reels, you’ll love this!!

 

LINKS

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

To view the final bracket – CLICK HERE

For our latest Under the Radar Podcast – CLICK HERE

And for all you radio lovers, there is an audio only version of the show posted below….

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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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