Hoops HD

ELON AT DAVIDSON, 7:00 PM Eastern, Local TV only

Tonight is one of those nights…an evening where the SCGD simply has no idea which way to go with quite a few strong contenders for our game of the day.  Belmont and Eastern Kentucky have a huge battle tonight in the Ohio Valley, while Denver and surprising IPFW are battling in the Summit League.  There are also a number of stories swirling around the Oral Roberts at Abilene Christian game.  The ORU stories will be left for David Griggs’ column later today and will be featured in our next Under the Radar podcast, so for tonight’s game we will head to the battle among preseason favorites in the SoCon, as the Elon Phoenix take on the Davidson Wildcats.

Elon enters tonight’s game at 9-8 overall and 2-1 in conference.  Their KenPom rating of 156, RPI of 161 and BPI of 186 are all tops in the conference, though only by a narrow margin over Davidson.  The Phoenix’s best wins on the season have been over Columbia and Georgia State, neither of which is anything of particular note.  In fact, at this point in time it may take a complete dominance of the SoCon regular season and conference tournament for Elon to avoid a 16 seed in the NCAA tournament.  Simply winning the automatic bid without running through the league could put them in Dayton playing a First Four matchup.

Davidson was the preseason favorite in the SoCon this year, and proceeded to do absolutely nothing during the non-conference portion of their schedule to justify that.  The best game the Wildcats played so far this season was against the North Carolina Tar Heels, to whom them lost in overtime.  Of course, the Tar Heels have shown the ability to beat or lose to anyone in the country on any given night.  While Davidson is off to a 3-0 start in league play (and 7-10 overall), tonight is their first true challenge.  Should they win this game, they will be in good position for the rest of the season, especially given that the unbalanced league schedule results in the Wildcats only playing Chattanooga and Western Carolina (the only two other apparent contenders this season) once each.

For Chad Sherwood’s SCGD, CLICK HERE:  https://hoopshd.com/2014/01/15/small-conference-game-of-the-day-january-15/

-MICHIGAN STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). Northwestern won a big game against Illinois, but I don’t expect them to play up for tis one.

-UMASS AT GEORGE MASON (Atlantic Ten). UMass continues to roll, and Mason continues to disappoint.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT SMU (AAC). SMU is right on the bubble, so every game has a pivotal feel to it.

-MISSOURI STATE AT INDIANA STATE (Missouri Valley). These are probably the second and third best teams in the Valley. Missouri State is coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss to Wichita State, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re still hung over from that.

-CLEMSON AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). I still have Clemson outside the bubble, but they could definitely play their way on to it.

-GEORGETOWN AT XAVIER (Big East). Xavier has been very tough to beat at home, and Georgetown still has some work to do. it’s a big game for both teams.

-AUBURN AT TENNESSEE (SEC). I haven’t completely given up on Tennessee, but if they lose tonight I will.

-BUFFALO AT TOLEDO (MAC). Toledo is a solid 13-2, but they can only afford to lose one more game at most if they want to feel safe for an at-large.

-TCU AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big Twelve). Okie State shouldn’t have any trouble.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). The Bonnies have been tough at times this year, but probably not tough enough to warrant inclusion in the field (although a win tonight will go a long way toward changing that). SLU is coming off an impressive win at Dayton and has now cracked the rankings.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT ALABAMA (SEC). I’m not ready to believe in Mississippi State just yet, but they are 11-4, so I may be getting there.

-BAYLOR AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve). Baylor shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up a road win.

-FLORIDA STATE AT MIAMI (ACC). I like this Florida State team, but they are incredibly inconsistent. As weak as Miami has been, they have improved as the year has gone on, so the Noles better be on upset alert.

-DAYTON AT FORDHAM (Atlantic Ten). This is the kind of road game that tournament teams simply need to win. Dayton has been good at times in managing big wins, but they’ve offset that by losing games that they should be expected to win….like this one. They really need to get it done.

-PURDUE AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). This is a game that both of these teams really need.

-UNLV AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West). Right now I have UNL:V on the outside looking in, and New Mexico on the inside, but not as far inside as they’d like to be, so I think this is big for both teams.

-FRESNO STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West). I think this San Diego State team is incredible and don’t expect them to have any trouble tonight.

-WASHINGTON AT CALIFORNIA (Pac Twelve). Cal is good, but still needs some wins to put themselves more safely inside the bubble. Washington was terrible OOC, but a switch has flipped since conference play began. A win today puts them at 12-6 overall with notable wins against Arizona State, Colorado and Cal. Two of those would have been on the road. That’s really not bad at all.

William & Mary at Delaware, 7:00 PM Eastern, no TV

We are taking a short drive tonight from Philly down to Delaware as the SCGD stays in the Colonial for the matchup between the Tribe of William & Mary and the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.  Following Towson’s victory at Drexel last night, it is becoming clear that the CAA could be one of the most exciting and competitive conferences out there this season.  Three teams remain undefeated in conference play at the moment.  One of those will fall tonight.

William & Mary enters tonight’s game at a respectable 9-5 including wins over Drexel and Rutgers.  The Tribe can make a huge statement with a win tonight.  Not expected to be among the top contenders in the conference this season, William & Mary could be the team that comes from nowhere to contend in the CAA, something that seems to happen every season in this league.  For William & Mary, an NCAA tournament berth this season would take them off of a very short list that they do no want to be on.  Along with Army, The Citadel, Northwestern and St. Francis (NY), the Tribe have been a member of Division I since D1 began in 1948, and have never been in the NCAA tournament.

Delaware has been slowly moving into position as the best team in the CAA.  With Drexel sliding and Towson having struggled in non-conference play, the Blue hens may be the favorite, especially if they can get a win tonight.  While Delaware’s best win on the year so far is probably a victory over Bryant, they have not lost to a team outside the KenPom top 100 since a November 10 game against Charleston Southern.  They have won four of their last five coming into tonight, and with trips to Northeastern and Drexel coming up in the next week, have a chance to establish themselves.  However, from what we have seen on the court so far, it is more likely that this league will come down to the final week of the season, and its conference tournament will be wide open for anyone to win.

-WISCONSIN AT INDIANA (Big Ten). Wiscy has looked like a national title contender. IU needs some big wins just to get on the right side of the bubble.

-GEORGIA AT FLORIDA (SEC). The Gators should win this one without too much of a sweat.

-OKLAHOMA AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve). Kansas State got waxed in their last game, but both teams have looked good lately and appear to be solid tournament teams.

-VCU AT GEORGE WASHINGTON (Atlantic Ten). The national media doesn’t appear to be that big on either team, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both ended up in the field. Still, both have work to do, which makes tonight’s game really important.

-BRADLEY AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley). Wichita shouldn’t have too much trouble winning this one at home.

-PENN STATE AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Michigan got off to a slow start, but it does appear that they are perhaps beginning to put it together.

-KENTUCK YAT ARKANSAS (SEC). Arkansas is likely not a tournament team, but they are still very tough to beat at home. This will be a really tough test for Kentucky.

-PITTSBURGH AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). Pitt is in the rankings and has a big record, but I’m still not completely sold on them and won’t be until they start beating good teams, which I do not consider Georgia Tech to be.

-BOISE STATE AT NEVADA (Mountain West). If Boise wants any shot at all, they pretty much need to win out.

TOWSON AT DREXEL, 7:00 PM Eastern, Regional TV

The SCGD heads to Philadelphia tonight for an important battle in the Colonial Athletic Association.  Towson was one of the more incredible stories last season, improving from a 1-31 record in 2012 to 18-13 last year under head coach Pat Skerry.  This lead many people, yours truly included, to believe that they would win the CAA this year.  At the moment, the Tigers stand at 10-6 overall and 1-0 in CAA play — a respectable record, though to date they have not played like the best team in the league.  That can all change tonight if they can score the road win at Drexel.

Drexel enters tonight’s game at 9-6 overall and 1-1 in CAA play, having already lost a game at William & Mary.  Nonconference wins over Rutgers, Alabama and Cleveland State had this team looking, at one point, as if it could run through conference play.  As seems typical with the Dragons every season though, they have come back down to earth.  With Towson, William & Mary and Delaware all right there in the rankings, this should be a fun and competitive conference season.  And as seems to be the case every year in the CAA, the conference tournament could be wide open for anyone to take the league’s only bid.

Check out Galen and David’s Bracket Racket here:  https://hoopshd.com/2014/01/12/bracket-racket-011214/

NORTHERN ARIZONA AT SOUTHERN UTAH, 9:00 PM Eastern, no TV (free streaming at http://b2tv.com/upcoming_events.asp?q=v&value=bigsky).

Tonight is the first “Big Monday” of the season, so the SCGD heads to Cedar City, Utah for a Big Sky matchup between the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona and the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah.  While many of our SCGD entries discuss teams battling for NCAA tournament bids — tonight’s game is probably more about a bid to the Big Sky tournament (only the top 7 of its 11 members get spots), and about a championship that only HoopsHD awards.

Every season the HoopsHD team gets together to award the Centenary Award – the award given to the worst team in Division 1.  While defending “champion” Grambling is currently the leader for this title again (especially after Cornell got its first win of the season on Saturday), Southern Utah is on the radar as a very real threat to take the crown this season.  SUU sits at 1-11 on the season, with their lone win being over non-D1 Southwestern Arizona.  KenPom rates SUU at 350 of 351 teams.  Their BPI is also 350.  Southern Utah currently joins Grambling, Cornell and Lamar as the only teams in the country with only one win, though Lamar’s win was over a D1 foe, something the other three teams cannot boast.  If the Thunderbirds fails to win again this season, they are poised and ready to take the Centenary, especially if Grambling is able to find a way to score another victory.  Of course, winning a game like tonight’s would likely take SUU right out of contention.

Northern Arizona enters tonight’s game at 5-9 on the season and 2-1 in Big Sky play, including a win over a Montana team that has captured three of the conference’s last four postseason tournament championships.  While the Lumberjacks are probably not going to challenge for the league title this season, a finish in the top half of the league standings is definitely possible.  However to get there they will need to begin with wins in games like tonight.