Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, December 6

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Chad

Harvard at Vermont, 7:00 PM, free streaming at uvmathletics.com

The UTR Game of the Day returns to Burlington, Vermont for the second time this week, as the Catamounts, fresh off a dominating win over conference rival Hartford, welcome one of the top Under the Radar teams in the entire country to town.  Vermont has improved its record to 4-3 on the year and enters tonight’s game ranked just outside the KenPom top 100.  They could be within that top 100 if they are able to ride their home court to another big victory against the Harvard Crimson.

Harvard began the season ranked in the top 25, then promptly lost their first D1 game of the year to Holy Cross.  The Crimson have rallied since that loss, picking up wins over Florida Atlantic, Houston, UMass and Northeastern.  This is a very deep and very talented Harvard team, led by Wesley Saunders, and complemented excellently by the likes of Siyani Chambers, Kenyatta Smith and Steve Moundou-Missi.  Harvard’s KenPom rating is currently 32 and it would not be a shock to see them back in the Top 25 polls very soon.  Of course, that assumes the Crimson can keep winning.  And a road victory at a tough place to win, such as Vermont, will definitely be a strong positive on their resume when it is evaluated by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee — even if the average fan would not give it as much credit.  Harvard does need to be careful in Burlington tonight, especially with the chance of looking ahead to crosstown rival Boston U on Monday night in their last game before a two week break for final exams.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Friday, December 5

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Chad

Don’t miss this week’s Under the Radar Podcast:  CLICK HERE

Long Beach State at Stephen F. Austin, free streaming at sfajacks.com

Nacogdoches, Texas is the stop tonight for the UTR Game of the Day as the Southland Conference favorite Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks host Dan Monson’s Long Beach State 49ers from the Big West conference.  SFA was greatly criticized here at HOOPSHD last season for their schedule, which featured only one top 100 opponent ( a loss to Texas).  They only slightly improved that this season, with a home game against Northern Iowa and road contests at Baylor, Memphis and Xavier.  Unfortunately, the Lumberjacks could only muster a single win in those games (at Memphis last time out), and winning out all the way to the conference tournament championship game may not even be enough for them this year if they need an at-large bid.  Obviously, losing a game like tonight’s could only hurt.

Long Beach State entered the season as a middle of the pack pick in the Big West conference.  However, non-conference wins against Western Michigan, Kansas State and Xavier have the 49ers aspiring to loftier heights already.  While they are only 5-4 on the season, none of the losses have been bad ones (BYU, Xavier, UCLA and Washington).  Dan Monson will certainly have this team well-tested by the time the conference season starts as their gauntlet includes games after tonight at San Diego State, at Texas,  at St. John’s, at Syracuse and at Louisville (in other words, just the type of schedule a team like Stephen F. Austin should have put together if they wanted at-large consideration).  Long Beach currently has the #20 SOS in the country and they could be among the top 5 in that category by January 1.  The wins they have already, combined with the character that will be built this month, could have the 49ers right up there with the likes of UC-Irvine and UCSB in the battle for the Big West’s automatic bid.

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Under the Radar: Friday, December 5th

Posted on December 5, 2014 by David Griggs

This week, David and Chad look at the situation at UAB with the school dropping its football program, and the potential impact it could have on basketball.  They also go through and look at all the UTR teams that are off to a good start and talk about whether or not they are for real.  We then go through this week’s top ten, and preview the notable upcoming match-ups.

 

And for all of you radio lovers out there, below is an mp3 version of the show….

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Highlighted Games for Wednesday (and Puppet Ramblings), Dec 4th

Posted on December 4, 2014 by David Griggs

PUPPET RAMBLINGS

-More often than not, I feel that Duke is overvalued.  They are a top five caliber team at home, and since they play so many home games they oftentimes look like a top five caliber team.  In the past, they have been only decent (if that) in true road games.  For instance, last year they were 4-5 in true road games, and the only NCAA Tournament team they beat was Pitt.  That’s not bad, but it’s not top five, which is where they are generally ranked.  In the NCAA Tournament, they faced Mercer away from home, and lost that as well.  The year before they were just 5-4 on the road, had to sweat out wins against weak teams such as Wake Forest and Boston College, and again only had one win against a tournament team, and that was North Carolina.

Well, last night, they get a MONSTER road win, and I was VERY impressed.  Do not be surprised if it is the best true road win that any team is able to manage.  That is a solid, #1 seed caliber win.  Wow!

-Colorado State is now 7-0.  Someone needs to make sure their fans are aware of that.  Last night, they were hosting UTEP, who is another good team, and the place looked half empty.  When you’re unbeaten and hosting a good team, you should be rammed full (pun intended).  Colorado State did win the game.

-Wichita State’s regular season winning streak that dated back to March of 2013 is now over.  They jumped out ahead of a very good Utah team on the road, but just couldn’t hold on.  I’m still sold on them being a very good team.  I was more impressed with Utah than disappointed in Wichita State.  Beating ranked teams on the road is not easy to do.

-Louisville’s defense is very impressive.  They picked up a big win against Ohio State, who looked awful early, but was able to fight their way back in it despite being on the road.  Again, I’m more impressed with Louisville, particularly defensively, than discouraged about Ohio State after that one.

 

TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-LSU AT WEST VIRGINIA.  West Virginia is off to a fantastic start, and LSU is off to an okay start.  If LSU wants to kick down the door to the NCAA Tournament then these are the kinds of wins they need on their profile.

-BAYLOR AT VANDERBILT.  Both teams come into this game with just one loss, and Baylor has looked rather impressive this year.

-WESTERN ILLINOIS AT AKRON.  Akron has two losses and I don’t know how much we like their at-large chances at this point, but they are down to having very few (if any) strikes left and cannot afford a loss like this.

-GREEN BAY AT GEORGIA STATE.  Fantastic game tonight.  Read all about it here in our UNDER THE RADAR GAME OF THE NIGHT. 

-ARKANSAS AT IOWA STATE.  Two teams that are in the rankings and looking for a win of note.  Arkansas, who has been terrible on the road in recent years, already has a notable road win at SMU.  This will likely be an even bigger challenge.

-TCU AT OLE MISS.  Chances are there is nothing to see here, but TCU is currently unbeaten and Ole Miss has just one loss, and that was the season opener.

-SAN DIEGO AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  This appears to be a mismatch, but oftentimes this is a better game than what you would expect.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, December 4

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Chad

Green Bay at Georgia State, 7:00 PM Eastern, No TV

The UTR Game of the Day heads south tonight, to Atlanta, Georgia for a matchup between two of the better Under the Radar teams this season, Green Bay and Georgia State.  The Green Bay Phoenix have been particularly impressive so far this season, with their lone loss coming at Wisconsin.  They already have registered wins over two other teams that we have been tracking this year, Evansville and Florida Gulf Coast, en route to winning the Gulf Coast Showcase championship.  Their 5-1 start is the program’s best in 23 years.  Keifer Sykes has led the way so for Green Bay, averaging 18 points per game.

Georgia State will be placing their 14 game home court winning streak on the line in this game, the first of two against Green Bay this season (the two teams will play again in Green Bay on December 27).  The Panthers enter at 5-2, with their losses having coming at Iowa State and at Colorado State.  They are led by R.J. Hunter, Ryan Harrow and former Louisville standout Kevin Ware, whose injury in the 2013 NCAA tournament served as a rallying point for the Cardinals in their run to the national championship.  Other than their two games with Green Bay and a trip in two weeks to Old Dominion, the Panthers will not have the chances to make a mark in non-conference play, meaning that tonight’s home contest is pretty much a must win if they want to be in the discussion for an at-large bid.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day and Highlighted Games – Wednesday, December 3

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Chad

UNDER THE RADAR GAME OF THE DAY

Hartford at Vermont, 7:00 PM Eastern, uvmathletics.com

The UTR Game of the Day had a lot of great destinations to choose from tonight, including the huge showdown between Northeastern and Harvard, and an intriguing matchup between Yale and Bryant, not to mention our adopted team (NJIT) on the road at UMass-Lowell.  However, it is tough to pass up a trip to one of the most Under the Radar college cities in the country: Burlington, Vermont.  You just can’t beat a walk down Church Street Marketplace or along the shores of Lake Champlain.  And one cannot go to Burlington without grabbing a meal at the Skinny Pancake, taking a tour of the Magic Hat Brewery, or taking a short drive to the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory.  If the weather is nice enough, a ferry ride across the lake and a trip to Plattsburgh, NY is worth it just for the chance to grab a couple Red Hots with Michigan sauce.

After all that packed into a day, the best way to cap it off is to attend the first America East conference game of the season as preseason favorite Hartford comes to town to take on the defending regular season champion Catamounts.  Vermont is 3-2 so far this year, but undefeated in two home contests coming into tonight’s game.  Harftord, on the other hand, enters the game at 5-2, including a road win over a Quinnipiac team that beat Vermont their last time out.  The Hawks have never made an NCAA tournament.  If they are able to pick up a road win tonight in Burlington, they will definitely be sending an early message to the entire conference that they are a legitimate contender to Dance this season.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

Temple at St. Joe’s — A Philadelphia Big 5 showdown between two teams that need quality wins.

Butler at Indiana State — A road test for the surprising Bulldogs against an in-state rival.

Northeastern at Harvard — A huge Boston showdown between two of the top Under the Radar teams so far this year.  Don’t be surprised if Harvard is back in the top 25 soon.

Michigan State at Notre Dame — Two teams that have played even better than expected so far this season.

Virginia Tech at Penn State — Hey, it’s part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Iowa at North Carolina — The Tar Heels look to be too much for the Hawkeyes on paper.

Yale at Bryant — A battle in New England between teams that should be near the top of their conference standings.

Old Dominion at George Mason — ODU is off to a surprisingly good start and will look to add another scalp tonight.

UNLV at Arizona State — I am not yet ready to give up on the Sun Devils, who don’t have any overly bad losses yet.  UNLV has not played well, which is not too surprising given their youth.

Villanova at La Salle — The second half of a Big 5 doubleheader on CBS Sports Network, the Wildcats should roll in this one.

Auburn at Texas Tech — The first game of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.  Ever hear of Can’t Miss TV?  This may be Can’t Watch TV.

New Mexico State at New Mexico — A huge rivalry matchup.  With the Lobos down this season, this game could go either way.

Virginia at Maryland — If Dez Wells were healthy, this would be a great game.  Without him, the Cavaliers should win without too much trouble.

Georgia Tech at Northwestern — Northwestern is undefeated at home, but only by getting a last second win over North Florida and an overtime win against Elon.  The Yellow Jackets are slightly (and maybe only slightly) better than those two teams.

Duke at Wisconsin — If you aren’t excited about this game, you probably need to get to the hospital because you may be dead.

San Francisco at Colorado — What David would call a buy game, though the Dons have played tough so far this year.

Montana at California — If Cal is a tournament team, they need to roll the Grizzlies here.

Loyola Marymount at USC — If Andy Enfield is a legitimate head coach, USC needs to roll in this one too.

Idaho at Washington State — Buy game

CS-Fullerton at UCLA — Buy game

Mississippi Valley State at Oregon State — Buy game

Concordia at Oregon — Why does an alleged major program schedule non-D1 regular season games?

Wichita State at Utah — Don’t go to bed after the Duke-Wisconsin game.  This should be another great one, and may be one of Wichita’s best non-conference games all season (though they are in the Diamond Head Classic and could get another good game or two there).

 

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