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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Highlighted Games for Tuesday, Dec 2nd

Posted on December 2, 2014 by David Griggs

-OHIO STATE AT LOUISVILLE.  This is easily the biggest test for either team so far, and it will be one of the bigger tests either program has out of conference.  Both teams are looking to be protected seeds, and these are the kinds of games they need to win.  Louisville is a site for the round of 64/32.  Unfortunately for Louisville, they can’t play there, but it wouldn’t be a bad place for Ohio State to land.

-ILLINOIS AT MIAMI FL.  Both teams are in the rankings, and both really should be despite beginning the season without a whole lot of national interest.  I think both of these teams will land way inside the bubble, and it’s a chance for both of them to pick up a quality win.

-SFA AT MEMPHIS.  If SFA wants any chance at all of making the NCAA Tournament without the automatic bid, they need this win.  Even that may not be enough.

-PITTSBURGH AT INDIANA.  I don’t expect either team to end up inside the bubble, but for now they both have decent records.

-UMASS AT LSU.  Both teams have gotten off to decent, but not great, starts, and could really use this one.

-SYRACUSE AT MICHIGAN.  Michigan didn’t look great in their first few games, but they appear to have improved.  Syracuse just has one loss, but they still haven’t had a strong statement win like this would be.  It’s a good early test for both teams.

-VCU AT ILLINOIS STATE.  Illinois State is a bit of a snake put, and VCU is off to kind of a sluggish start.  VCU has a tendency to improve as the season progresses, though, so I still think they’re fine.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT BELMONT.  I’m a little surprised this game didn’t get the UTR game of the day.  Belmont has won six straight since losing the season opener, and continues to look like one of the better teams in the OVC.  With games against VCU and Butler on the horizon, they have a shot at landing inside the bubble.

-DENVER AT WYOMING.  UTR Game of the Day.  CLICK HERE

-BYU AT UTAH STATE.  This has turned into quite a rivalry game, and it’s a game both teams really need to right now.  As I like to say, this one means a lot on and off paper.

-NORTHERN ILLINOIS AT DEPAUL.  Most likely, nothing to see here, but both teams currently have good records with each having just one loss.

-NC STATE AT PURDUE.  Most likely, nothing to see here, but NC State is unbeaten and Purdue has just one loss.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT ALABAMA.  It’s hard to get excited about this game, but both teams currently have just one loss.

-WRIGHT STATE AT EVANSVILLE.  The Aces have just one loss.

-NIAGARA AT SAINT JOHN’S.  Buy game, but a win gets the Johnnies to 5-1.

-STONY BROOK AT CINCINNATI.  It’s a buy game, but Stony Brook has looked good so far this year.

-MINNESOTA AT WAKE FOREST.  Minney cannot afford to lose this game.

-PINE BLUFF AT AKRON.  Akron can improve to 5-2 with a win.

-MOUNT SAINT MARY’S AT SETON HALL.  Buy game.  Seton Hall is unbeaten.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT NORTHWESTERN STATE.  This isn’t a buy game, but it’s a game against a weak team that LA Tech cannot afford to lose.

-TX ARLINGTON AT TEXAS.  Buy game

-OMAHA AT KANSAS STATE.  It’s a buy game, but it’s an interesting one.

-LAMAR AT IOWA STATE.  Buy game.

-GARDNER WEBB AT ARIZONA.  Buy game.

-SELA AT GONZAGA.  Buy game.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, December 2

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Chad

Denver at Wyoming, 9:00 PM Eastern, ROOT Sports/themw.com

The UTR Game of the Day heads to Laramie, Wyoming tonight — one of the toughest places in the country for a visiting team to play.  The Cowboys will be hosting Joe Scott’s Denver Pioneers, a team that has, for the past few years, significantly underachieved.  The Pioneers will be looking for a road win to try to get their season headed in the right direction.

While teams from the Mountain West tend not be true Under the Radar teams, we do occasionally focus on them, especially those in the middle and lower portions of the conference standings that are not getting national attention.  Wyoming is out to a perfect 6-0 start on the season, including a 56-33 home drubbing of Colorado and a three point home win over WAC favorite New Mexico State.  The Cowboys have not, however, left Laramie yet this season.  A trip Friday night to SMU will change that, and could put them on the national radar if they sweep their two games this week.

Denver, two years ago, was a team we thought would win the WAC’s tournament bid.  While the Pioneers ran through the conference regular season at 16-2, they turned around and got upset in their first game in the WAC tournament.  Last season, Denver moved to the Summit League and, at least in the preseason, looked like a team that would challenge North Dakota State for the conference title and maybe even be in contention for an at-large bid.  Instead, they went 16-15 overall, 8-6 in conference, and ended their season with an 83-48 loss to North Dakota State in the Summit League tournament.

For these reasons, despite looking like a contender for the conference title this season, it is tough to actually pick the Pioneers to finish at the top of their league.  Denver is 3-2 so far on the season, having beaten three sub-250 teams at home while losing their only two road tests (at Belmont and at St. Mary’s).  With non-conference tests against Northern Iowa, Stanford and Colorado State still to come, the Pioneers will definitely have the chances to prove that last season was just a fluke.  And they will need to prove that they can win tough road games if they want to build the confidence to contend for a league title and an NCAA tournament bid.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Monday, December 1

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Chad

Check out the latest Bracket Racket podcast here:  https://hoopshd.com/2014/12/01/bracket-racket-12-1-14/

Oral Roberts at Weber State, 9:00 PM Eastern, watchbigsky.com

Welcome to the inaugural 2014-15 season Under the Radar Game of the Day (formerly known in prior years as the Small Conference Game of the Day or SCGD).  The UTR Game of the Day will focus on fun and/or intriguing matchups taking place among teams that are not in the major conferences.  In other words, we will not be focusing on the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC.  We will also probably not be featuring any games from the American, Big East, Atlantic Ten or Mountain West.  Instead, we will be looking at the little guys, the teams that are Under the National Radar, but certainly on ours.

Tonight we begin our season in Ogden, Utah as the defending Big Sky champion Weber State Wildcats will be hosting the Summit League’s Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.  Weber State has gotten off to a slow start so far this season, with only 2 wins in 5 contests, and one of those wins coming against a non-D1 foe.  They finished in 7th place in the Paradise Jam, losing games to Illinois State and LSU before finally scoring a win against Nevada.  The Wildcats have been led so far this season by Jerome Bolomboy who averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds during the trip to the Virgin Islands.

Weber will be welcoming in Scott Sutton’s ORU team that has returned to the Summit League this year after two rather disappointing seasons in the Southland Conference.  The Golden Eagles were our preseason pick to win the Summit, though they are also out to a slow start at 2-3, including a 24-point loss to Louisiana-Lafayette during the MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas.  The Golden Eagles’ other two losses were at Oregon State and at Missouri, though they do have a home win over Tulsa to their credit.  Keep an eye on Obi Emegano, who has been leading the way so far for the Golden Eagles, averaging 18.4 points per game.

This game could be exactly what both teams need in 0rder to begin turning their seasons in the right direction.  Weber State has a trip to Texas-Arlington followed by an intriguing home matchup against BYU coming over the next two weeks while ORU will return home after this game for contests with Missouri State and New Mexico State.   Whoever wins this game will certainly have momentum as we move into the month of December.

 

OTHER ACTION

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-NEBRASKA AT FLORIDA STATE.  Florida State comes in at a rather disappointing 3-3, and although Nebraska is 4-1, they haven’t played a tough schedule and could use a win away from home.

-TEXAS SOUTHERN AT BAYLOR (Buy Game)

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Bracket Racket 12.1.14

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Johnny Basketball

HHDpodsOn this edition of the Bracket Racket, we break down the games of note from this past week, including Arizona-SDSU, Butler-Everyone, and Virginia-Rutgers (yes, seriously). We also talk about Florida’s troubles, Minnesota’s lack of non-conference wins, and the Big East’s impressive showing thus far.

We then spend a decent amount of time breaking down the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, highlighting games such as Syracuse-Michigan, Ohio State-Louisville, Illinois-Miami, and the big one of the week, Duke-Wisconsin. We all make our predictions (HINT: It’s a pretty close call between these two conferences) before moving on to the remaining games of the upcoming week.

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