Below is our latest Bracket Racket podcast, where we reveal what we think the NCAA Tournament field would look like if the season ended today. David, Chad and Joby banter about all that, and more….
To see Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, CLICK HERE
And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show….
Northern Arizona at St. Mary’s, 10:00 PM Eastern, free streaming at thew.tv
The St. Mary’s Gaels are coming off of their biggest win of the season this past weekend, having headed to Omaha and pulled off a thrilling overtime win against the Creighton Bluejays. That victory moved the Gaels to 6-1 on the season, with the only blemish being a home loss to Boise State. It was also good enough to get them (just barely) into out bracket projection this week (click the link above for a look).
Tonight, the Gaels are sandwiching in a home contest against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks before heading on their longest road trip of the year, a cross-country journey to Madison Square Garden to take on nationally-ranked St. John’s Friday night. After the St. John’s game, the Gaels will return home for a contest against a very solid Northeastern team before West Coast Conference play starts December 27. The Gaels have been led offensively so far this year by Brad Waldow, though keep an eye on both Aaron Bright and Kerry Carter, the later of whom is shooting over 50% from behind the three point arc.
Northern Arizona has struggled so far this year, sitting at 3-6 with only wins over Southern, Fresno State and Loyola Marymount to their credit. The Lumberjacks needed overtime to defeat Southern and have an overtime loss at home to a fairly weak UTSA team. In other words, their best shot at a win tonight may be if the Gaels overlook them with this game coming in between two big road trips. Ako Kaluna has been their leader offensively so far this season, though watch out for Quinton Upshur and Aaseem Dixon, neither of whom will shy away from shooting a three.
-Duke, Georgia Tech, Pepperdine and Oregon State are all potential postseason teams that have buy games tonight. Other than that, there is nothing of note. You have our permission to take tonight off.
-Be sure and check out our podcast and updated bracket projections, which should be posted by tomorrow morning.
-NJIT AT LIU BROOKLYN. UTR Game of the Day. CLICK HERE.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT PENN STATE. Both teams have good records, but still have a lot of work to do if they want their profiles to be good enough to make the NCAA Tournament.
-TEMPLE AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). Nova clearly looks to be the superior team, but Temple is much improved this year with a 6-3 record. If they can pull off an upset win in a game like this it will be one of the signature wins of their season.
-BUTLER AT TENNESSEE. Butler has been a surprise team this year, but as of now they still only have one true road win, and Tennessee is unbeaten at home so far.
-LOUISIANA TECH AT SYRACUSE. This LA Tech has a very high ceiling, and they’re certainly capable of winning this game. Their problem is that they don’t always play up to their ceiling, and are coming off a very damaging loss to Louisiana Lafayette. If they want any shot at all at an at-large bid, they have to pick up this win at Syracuse.
-EASTERN WASHINGTON AT WASHINGTON. This is technically a buy game, but it is a very interesting match up. Eastern Illinois has just one loss, and already has a notable win at Indiana. Washington is unbeaten and off to a much better than expected state. If Eastern can pull off the upset, you have to start thinking they’re a team that can land inside the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
-WOFFORD AT NC STATE. It’s a buy game, but an interesting one between what appears to be the best team in the SoCon and a one loss NC State team.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT DEPAUL. At 6-2, DePaul has looked better than expected, but still has a lot of work to do.
-WEST VIRGINIA VS MARSHALL. West Virginia is off to a great start and Marshall certainly is not, but this is game that WVU has struggled to win in the past, so it may be more competitive than you would expect.
-FORDHAM AT SAINT JOHN’S. It’s a crosstown match up, but it is also a huge mismatch. The Johnnies have had a great year so far this year.
-SAINT PETER’S AT SETON HALL. Buy game. Seton Hall has just one loss.
-COPPIN STATE AT UCONN. Buy game.
-PRARIE VIEW AT TEXAS TECH. Buy game. Texas Tech has just one loss.
-MONTANA STATE AT WYOMING. We’re still keeping an eye on Wyoming, but they’ve go ta lot of work to do.
-FIU AT FGCU. FGCU has just one loss and should be able to get this one at home.
-NC A&T AT OLD DOMINION. Buy game.
-JACKSONVILLE AT FLORIDA. This is a buy game that the Gators cannot afford to lose.
-NORTH TEXAS AT SFA. If SFA can win out, they may have a chance at an at-large.
-UNC WILMINGTON AT LOUISVILLE. Buy game.
-SOUTHERN AT IOWA STATE. Buy game.
-SOUTHERN UTAH AT BOISE STATE. Buy game.
NJIT at LIU-Brookyn, 3:30 PM Eastern, free streaming at necfrontrow.com
The UTR Game of the Day heads to Brooklyn this afternoon as our adopted team, the NJIT Highlanders, attempt to pick up their second win over a team from Brooklyn this week. The Highlanders, who made national headlines last week with their historic win at Michigan, followed up that victory earlier this week with an exciting home win over the St. Francis College (Brooklyn) Terriers. They played again Friday night in Worcester, Massachusetts and were right in the game with the Holy Cross Crusaders for about 30 minutes. The Crusaders, however, turned on the gas late and NJIT’s winning streak came to an end. As a result, the Highlanders enter today’s game with a record of 4-6 as they seek a .500 or better season and a possible CIT bid.
Today’s short trip from Newark, NJ to Brooklyn, NY is to take on the LIU Blackbirds. Long Island U is coming off of their first win of the season Tuesday night when they won at Maine. At 1-6 on the season, the Blackbirds could struggle with NJIT, especially if they play as well as they have been playing the past two weeks. It is worth noting that it is less than 30 miles between NJIT’s campus and Brooklyn, where both St. Francis College and LIU are located mere blocks away from each other. It is also less than 20 miles from Newark to Teaneck, NJ, home of Fairleigh Dickinson University, and about the same to Staten Island, where Wagner is located. In other words, if NJIT was in the Northeast Conference they would instantly have four conference rivals within a drive of less than an hour from their school — an arrangement that makes perfect sense. NJIT to the Northeast Conference — LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!
For the rest of today’s action, CLICK HERE.
Centenary at Louisiana-Lafayette, 3:00 PM Eastern, No TV
Here at HOOPSHD, at the end of every season, we hand out our annual “Centenary Award”. This award is given out to the worst team in Division I. It began at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season when it was won by the Centenary Gents in their final season at the D1 level, when they went 1-29. In 2012, Towson took the title. In 2013, we awarded it to Grambling while last season the Southern Utah Thunderbirds took the crown. The early favorite for the award this season is Florida A&M, but there are still a lot of games left to be played. Of course, any chance to focus on the team that began the award cannot be passed up.
Centenary is now a Division III team, and off to a 3-6 start to their season. This afternoon, the Gents will be in Lafayette, Louisiana to take on their lone D1 foe of the season, the Sun Belt Conference’s Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns. The Gents do have four players averaging double-digit scoring led by Kendall Demouchet’s 13.2 points per game. James Sapp is averaging 11.8 and 6.2 rebounds.
Actually picking up a Division I win will be very difficult for the Gents. The Ragin’ Cajuns are coming off of a home upset win over Louisiana Tech Wednesday night. They were led in that game by Shawn Long who scored 24 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, all in just 24 minutes of play due to foul trouble. Louisiana-Lafayette also shot well from outside, hitting 7 of 14 three pointers. If the team can even come close to repeating that performance, they will have no trouble at all with the Gents. However, it is always nice to see Centenary showing up on the daily list of scheduled games. We do miss them.
