Under the Radar Game of the Day – Sunday, December 14

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Chad

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!!!

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, December 13

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Chad

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.

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Highlighted Games For Saturday, Dec 13th

Posted on December 13, 2014 by David Griggs

QUICK NOTES

-Our adopted team, NJIT, fell on the road to Holy Cross 76-66 the other night.  Holy Cross isn’t likely to end up inside the bubble, but they’ve looked good this season.

-Iowa State went on the road and got a very impressive road win in a bitterly hostile environment against Iowa.  Iowa State isn’t getting much #1 seed talk, and I don’t know if they’re that good, but as of now I think they’re the best team I’ve seen out of the Big Twelve.  If they win that league you’d think they’d have to be in the #1 seed picture.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-UTAH AT KANSAS (Spotlight Game).  I’ve been very impressed wit Utah this year, and they’re coming off an emotional and impressive win over bitter rival BYU.  I do believe this is their toughest test of the season so far.  Both teams have looked good, both want a strong seed, and winning this kind of game makes a huge statement to the committee.

-GONZAGA AT UCLA (Spotlight Game).  Gonzaga has just one loss, and it was an overtime thriller at Arizona.  Because their schedule limits their opportunities at big time wins, I don’t know how realistic a #1 seed is, but I do think they’re team is good enough to be in that discussion.  Still, they need to pick up their first true road win (although their win at Saint John’s should count as a virtual true road win), and can do it against a very good UCLA team tonight.  UCLA, on the other hand, could use a big win of their own.

ARMY AT USC (Spotlight Game).  We spotlight this one just for fun.  Neither team will come close to the NIT bubble, but Army has improved so much over the last two years and is having a great year, and USC comes in at a modest 6-3, but with no wins against anyone who appears to be as good as Army.  So…it’s worth tuning in to.

Now, back to the serious action…..

-NORTH CAROLINA AT KENTUCKY.  UNC is ranked, but has been somewhat underwhelming this year.  Kentucky has looked as overhwelming as any team that we’ve seen in a long time.

-WICHITA STATE AT DETROIT.  Wichita clearly appears to be the stronger team, but these types of road games can be very hard to win.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT PITTSBURGH.  Saint Bona only has one loss, and Pitt hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire.  If the Bonnies can win this it’ll give them a ton of momentum and get the committee’s attention as well.

-DAYTON AT ARKANSAS.  It’s two teams that appear to be inside the bubble, and looking to add a good win to their profile.  Dayton has been poor on the road in the past, but was strong last year and already has one true road win this year, albeit not of this caliber.

-PEPPERDINE AT ARIZONA STATE.  It’s a buy game, but Pepperdine has just one loss, so watch out for them if they’re able to win this.

-MURRAY STATE AT EVANSVILLE.  Murray State has been very disappointing this year, but Evansville has not been.  They have just one loss, and may be good enough to end up in the field.

-SAINT MARY’S AT CREIGHTON.  SMC has just one loss, but this is their first true road game.  Creighton has been a surprise team this year, and has played very well at home.  It’s a big game for both teams who are looking to build their resume.

-OKLAHOMA AT TULSA.  It should be an electric atmosphere, but Oklahoma is the much stronger team and shouldn’t have trouble winning.  It would be their first true road win.

-XAVIER AT MISSOURI.  Xavier is good, but they need wins away from home.  Mizzou has not looked like a tournament team at any point this season, and it’s the kind of road game you’d expect a solid tournament team to be able to win.

-MICHIGAN AT ARIZONA.  Michigan has lost two straight  home games to seemingly weak opponents.  Arizona has looked like a #1 seed this entire season.  It appears to be a mismatch, but a win for Michigan would offset all their recent struggles.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT MEMPHIS.  A win for Okie State gets them to a noticeable 8-1, as well as gives them their first true road win of the year.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT OREGON STATE.  Not really big on either team, but both come in at 5-2.

-NORTHERN COLORADO AT COLORADO (Front Range).  This is a mythical conference game that Colorado cannot afford to lose.  I still think they’ll end up having a big year, but they’re off to a bad start on paper.  Off paper, they’re 1-2 against their Front Range rivals.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT VCU.  Northern Iowa is off to a fantastic start, and although VCU has struggled, they have a tendency to improve as the year goes on.  I think it would be the biggest win of the season so far for whoever ends up winning it.

-OREGON AT ILLINOIS.  Illinois has played well this year.  Oregon has been decent, but doesn’t have a win of this caliber yet.

-FLORIDA STATE AT NOTRE DAME.  Florida State has been disappointing, and if they’re going to turn it around they need to win a big game like this.  Notre Dame, on the other hand, has looked better than expected with just one loss and some pretty decent wins already.

-CINCINNATI AT NEBRASKA.  Nebraska has been hugely disappointing so far this year, and while Cincinnati only has one loss, they have  nothing that even comes close to resembling a good win yet.  Both teams desperately need this one.

-PURDUE AT VANDERBILT.  Both teams come in with two losses, but both need good wins to get the attention of the committee.

BYU AT WEBER STATE.  BYU has no bad losses yet, but no good wins either.  They absolutely cannot afford to not pick up this true road win against their in-state (sort of) rivals.

-UNLV AT SOUTH DAKOTA.  Haven’t been impressed with UNLV yet, but we still have our eye on them.  If they don’t win this one, though, we’ll probably stop watching.

-DRAKE AT GREEN BAY.  It feels like a buy game, but technically it’s not.  Green Bay cannot afford to lose at home.

-USC UPSTATE AT MARYLAND.  It’s a buy game, but Upstate is one of the better teams in the A-Sun.

-RADFORD AT GEORGETOWN.  Buy game.

-STONY BROOK AT PROVIDENCE.  Buy game.

-MOREHEAD STATE AT OHIO STATE.  Buy game.

-DELAWARE STATE AT RHODE ISLAND.  It’s a buy game that Rhody cannot afford to lose.

-NICHOLLS STATE AT WISCONSIN.  Buy game.

-GRAND CANYON AT INDIANA.  Buy game.

-NIAGARA AT DAVIDSON.  Buy game.  A win gets Davidson to a noticeable 8-1.  Can’t wait to see how they do against the Atlantic Ten.

-SAM HOUSTON STATE AT LSU.  Buy game.

-TEXAS STATE AT TEXAS.  Buy game.

-PRINCETON AT CALIFORNIA.  Buy game.

 

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Under the Radar: Dec 11th

Posted on December 11, 2014 by David Griggs

It’s been a huge week of upsets.  Incarnate Word took down Nebraska, Eastern Michigan beat Michigan, and NJIT had a big win over Michigan earlier in the week.  We begin talking about NJIT, who is in the unique situation of being an independent program without a conference after recently reclassifying to div1, and all of the progress we feel they have made.

Then, we move on to this week’s top ten, and discuss how good teams like Old Dominion and Harvard have looked.  We focus on Louisiana Tech and what little margin for error they have, and exactly how damaging their loss to Louisiana Lafayette was last night.

Lastly, as always, we look ahead to this week’s games.

It’s not a huge night of hoops tonight.  Eastern Washington visits San Francisco, one loss DePaul will get a test at George Washington, and Wright State will visit Belmont in a rematch from the season opener.

 

For all you radio lovers out there, below is an mp3 version of our show….

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Wednesday, December10

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Chad

Check out David Grigg’s Rambling and preview of the rest of today’s action HERE.

Rider at Iona, 7:00 PM Eastern, No TV

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference runs a full double round robin conference regular season.  With 11 members, this means that 20 conference games need to be played by each team.  As a result, the MAAC has designated the second week of December as its first week of conference play.  By the end of this week, every team in the league will be two games into their conference slate before heading back to finish their last few non-conference games.  By the time we reach January, conference play will be in full swing the rest of the season.

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads to the MAAC as the Rider Broncs travel to New Rochelle, NY to battle the Iona Gaels.  Iona was our preseason pick to win the MAAC, but opened conference play Sunday in West Long Branch, NJ with a loss to Monmouth.  The Gaels, who do have a win at Wake Forest and losses to Wofford and Arkansas, need to rebound from that loss tonight.  Falling to 0-2 in conference play before January could be a huge hole for them to try to dig out of.  The Gaels also need to make sure they do not look past tonight’s game.  They still have five non-conference games remaining including a home game against a very good Florida Gulf Coast team and a trip to UMass.

The team that will try to knock the Gaels to 0-2 tonight is the Rider Broncs.  Kevin Baggett’s team enters tonight’s game with a record of 4-5, including a win Sunday over conference rival Siena.  While the Broncs do have five losses, three of them are certainly understandable — at Kansas and during the Orlando Classic to Michigan State and Georgia Tech.  A win today will send notice to the rest of the conference that the Broncs will be a legitimate contender throughout the season.

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Puppet Ramblings and Highlighted Games for Wednesday, Dec 10th

Posted on December 10, 2014 by David Griggs

PUPPET RAMBLINGS

-Illinois played well and fought their way back into it against a very good Villanova team, but just couldn’t get over the hump.  Nova was in the discussion for a #1 seed last year, and will likely be again this year.  They’re that good.

-Indiana and Louisville was one of the most exciting games of the season for the first thirty minutes of it.  The Cardinals finally opened it up and won by a final of 94-74, but Indiana is not a bad team.  I thought they would be, but I was wrong.  Even when Eastern Washington beat them I was not surprised.  I’m impressed enough with the Hoosiers not just because of last night, but because of how they’ve played this year, to think that they’re good enough to make the field of 68.

-Last night, we had three games that appeared to be buy games of little interest that resulted in rather surprising results.  The first was a one loss Eastern Michigan team, who hadn’t played anyone of not AT ALL, who went into Michigan and handed the Wolverines their second consecutive OOC loss.  Nothing against Eastern Michigan and our personal favorite NJIT, but Michigan appears to have some issues.

-Bowling Green, who also had just one loss, went into Dayton and looked absolutely amazing for thirty minutes, and appeared to be on their way to picking up a huge road win.  It’s the type of win the committee likes to see.  They followed that up by scoring just two points in the final ten minutes of the game, but amazingly still had a chance to win in the final seconds.  Dayton held on for a 56-52 win.  Dayton has beaten Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green in their last two games, and although that’s not overly noteworthy, it is slightly more noteworthy than winning just two regular buy games.

-Creighton needed double overtime to take down South Dakota, who we like out of the Summit League, but only by Summit League standards.  Creighton is impossible to figure out.  They look awful in the first have against Oklahoma, but come out and look like gangbusters as they come from behind to win.  Then, they drop a game to a rather weak Ole Miss team, and lose rather handily to an even weaker Tulsa team, so you start to think that it was just a fluke.  Then, they go on the road and win at Nebraska, who is not easy to beat at home.  They follow that up by really needing to sweat out South Dakota.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KANSAS AT GEORGETOWN.  Tough road test for a Kansas team that is good now, and is likely to improve as the season goes along.  It’s a big opportunity for Georgetown to get a notable win as well.

-RHODE ISLAND AT PROVIDENCE.  This is a bitter rivalry.  Since it’s rare that either team, much less both of them, is in the national spotlight the country may not realize just how intense this rivalry is.  It was looking much more compelling on paper last week before Providence went and lost to teams like Brown, but Rhody appears to be a potential tournament team, and Providence could be as well if they’re able to get things turned around.

-UTAH AT BYU.  There was concern that this series would be put on hold, but I’m glad it wasn’t.  As big of a rivalry as it is, this game means a lot on paper as well despite it not being a conference game.  BYU desperately needs a quality win, and Utah could really use a win of note away from home.

-COLORADO STATE AT COLORADO (Front Range).  We here at Hoops HD LOVE the mythical Front Range Conference!.  Unfortunately it is no longer in tact as not all teams play each other, but many of them do.  Colorado, for instance, plays all but Denver this year.  Colorado State is off to a great start, whereas Colorado has been disappointing.  Another rivalry game that means a lot to both teams on and off paper.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT DENVER.  UNI is now in the rankings and can add another road win to their profile.

-LONG BEACH STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  SDSU looked really bad in their last game and needs to rebound at home against a respectable LBSU team.

-WYOMING AT CALIFORNIA.  Really good and important game tonight between two one loss teams who we could easily see in the tournament.  You get the sense that Wyoming needs it a little more.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT GONZAGA.  This is not a buy game, but chances are it’ll end up looking like one.  Gonzaga and Washington really need to resume that series.  Washington dropping the Zags to play a more national schedule seemingly has not paid off.

-DUQUESNE AT PENN STATE.  I’m still not sold on Penn State, but they are 8-1.

-HIGH POINT AT OHIO STATE.  It’s a buy game, but High Point will be a force in the Big South, so it is perhaps at least worth watching for a little while.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE.  Same story as always for LA Tech.  They cannot afford bad losses.

-WISCONSIN AT MILWAUKEE.  Regional match-up in what will be a showcase home game for Milwaukee, but probably not one they’ll win.

-COLUMBIA AT KENTUCKY.  Buy game.  We think Columbia is an improving program, but only by Ivy League standards.

-NC CENTRAL AT MARYLAND.  We like NCCU to win the MEAC, but not to beat a surprisingly good Maryland team.

-ARKANSAS STATE AT PURDUE.  Buy game.

-FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON AT SAINT JOHN’S.  Buy game.

-INCARNATE WORD AT NEBRASKA.  Buy game.  Incarnate Word has just one loss.

-UC RIVERSIDE AT UCLA.  Buy game.

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