Hoops HD

St. Mary’s at Gonzaga, 9:00 PM Eastern (ESPN2)

As we head into the New Year and regular season conference play is starting to get under way in most leagues, we also welcome the Gonzaga Bulldogs back to the SCGD.  The Zags have become a national power with 15 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and a perennial Top 25 ranking.  This had been more than enough for them to no longer qualify as a small conference/mid-major team.  However, the 2013-14 season has been far from typical for Gonzaga and therefore the SCGD will be featuring them in their first of two rivalry games against Saint Mary’s tonight.

Gonzaga enters tonight’s game at 12-2 overall with a top 25 KenPom and RPI rating.  Looking closer at their resume, however, shows a complete lack of quality non-conference wins.  The Zags beat Arkansas in Hawai’i, won at West Virginia and beat New Mexico State at home.  Those are not Top 25 and may not even be top 50 wins — the types of wins needed by a team that wants a high seed and the security of not needing to win its conference tournament to get into the NCAA field.  The Zags just lost one of their key players, Gary Bell, to injury as well.  They struggled in their conference opener to beat Santa Clara, though they dominated San Francisco in their second WCC game of the year.

St. Mary’s started the season 9-0 and was on our radar here as potentially the best team in the West Coast Conference and an at-large bid contender.  Then came the Diamond Head Classic in Hawai’i..an event they lost all 3 games in to destroy all good will they had built before then.  They did bounce back Monday night to knock off a pretty good Pacific team on the road, so hopefully the Gaels can maintain their momentum from that win as they head into the Kennel tonight.  Tonight is also the second game the Gaels will be playing without head coach Randy Bennett who is serving a suspension for his team’s first five league games this season.

Boston College at Harvard, 4:00 PM Eastern (no TV)

Happy New Year from everyone here at HoopsHD!  Today’s SCGD kicks off 2014 with an almost amazing winning streak on the line.  The Harvard Crimson host cross-town rival Boston College today with thier five game winning streak against the Eagles on the line.  For a team from the Ivy League to have a winning streak of that length against an ACC team is practically unbelievable.  Given how well Harvard has played so far this season, and how poorly BC has played, all indications are that the streak will reach 6.

Boston College enters today’s game as one of the most disappointing teams in the nation, thus earning it an entry in the column generally reserved for small conference teams.  A preseason pick to contend for an NCAA tournament bid, BC is 4-9 on the season with the worst RPI, BPI and KenPom numbers in the ACC.  The best win on the season for Boston College was against Washington, arguably one of the worst teams in the Pac 12.  Beyond that they have a three point win over Florida Atlantic and an overtime win over Sacred Heart, together with a victory over a non-D1 team.  If BC has any chance to turn things around as they head to conference play, they really need to start coming together immediately.

Harvard, on the other hand, continues to flirt with the Top 25.  The Crimson have only lost once, at Colorado.  However, they have yet to score a true quality win, and probably only have one chance to do so next week against Connecticut.  Even if they lose that game, dominating the Ivy League and winning today’s game should be enough to secure a chance to wear the home jerseys in the first NCAA tournament game this year.  If they can manage to win at Connecticut too, this team could be flirting with a protected seed.

Dr. Pepper Classic, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Sunday, December 29
4:30 PM Eastern: Maine vs Middle Tennessee (no TV)
7:00 PM Eastern: Grand Canyon at Chattanooga (no TV)

Monday, December 30
4:30 PM Eastern: Third Place Game (no TV)
7:00 PM Eastern: Championship Game (no TV)

The SCGD take the choo-choo to Chattanooga, Tennessee today and tomorrow for the last bracketed event of the season before conference tournaments, the Dr. Pepper Classic hosted by the Chattanooga Mocs.  This non-exempt four team tournament kicks off today with its semifinals as Maine battles Middle Tennessee followed by Grand Canyon taking on host school Chattanooga.  The third place game will be Monday at 4:30 PM, followed by the championship at 7:00 PM.

Maine enters the tournament at 1-9 on the season, with the Black Bears lone win coming over non-D1 Fisher College.  They have already lost twice to NJIT as well as suffering a home loss to a bad Army team.  Maine is presently ranked #345 in the KenPom, #317 in the RPI and #348 in the BPI.  Quite simply, this had been a disastrous season so far and the Black Bears are the clear “favorites” for a fourth place finish in this event.  Barring a miraculous turnaround in America East play, this will not be the year Maine makes it to their first ever NCAA tournament.  The State of Maine is the only state in the nation that has a Division I program and has never placed a team into the NCAA tournament (Alaska has also never had a team in the Big Dance, but has no D1 teams).

While Maine is clearly the weakest of the four teams in this field, Middle Tennessee is clearly the favorite to win it.  The Blue Raiders are 8-4 so far without a bad loss (although also without much in terms of wins either).  MTSU is not good enough to be under at-large consideration barring a complete domination of Conference USA — which is unlikely with the likes of Louisiana Tech, UAB, Southern Miss and Charlotte to deal with.  However, Kermit Davis has a solid team that should be in some form of postseason play this year, most likely the CBI or CIT.

Grand Canyon is not going to be playing postseason basketball this year no matter what they do as they are an ineligible transitional team in their first year of Division I play.  Dan Majerele should be able to build this program quickly though, and it would not be a shock to see them in the NCAA tournament within a few years of gaining eligibility.  The Lopes are 5-6 so far on the season, though 3 of the wins are over non-D1 foes.  They have been competitive though, losing by 3 to Loyola Marymount, 1 to Tulsa and 2 to Northern Arizona.  Unfortunately, the Lopes had some tough news this week as their top player, Demetrius Walker (formerly of both Arizona State and New Mexico) was dismissed from the team along with Jeff Lowery for “violation of team rules.”  Guard Justin Foreman, who was also a solid contributor so far, was suspended indefinitely as well.  The losses of these three players will make it difficult for Grand Canyon the rest of the season, though the SCGD still picks them to finish at least third in this event.

Finally, the host Chattanooga Mocs enter the tournament at 4-8 on the season, but with only one D1 win, a victory over IUPUI.  They have already suffered several bad losses including Northern Kentucky, Kennesaw State and the lowly Georgia Bulldogs.  That being said, the Mocs could pick up some momentum in their host event before starting conference play next Saturday.  With the Southern Conference appearing to be wide open in light of Davidson’s struggles so far, there is no reason that even the Mocs can have a shot at contending for the league’s lone tournament bid.

Check out David Griggs’ preview of all of today’s action by clicking here!

Harvard at Fordham, 4:00PM Eastern (SNY)

Following the Christmas break, the SCGD returns today, taking us to the Bronx for the battle between Tommy Amaker’s Harvard Crimson and the Fordham Rams.  Harvard has been sniffing at breaking into the Top 25 the past few weeks, having run off 6 straight victories since losing at Colorado, and boasting a 10-1 overall record on the season.  With the meat of the Ivy League season still several weeks from starting, today’s game is one of four remaining non-conference road tests.  The Crimson will also have to travel to Rice, Florida Atlantic and UConn, plus a home contest against Boston College before turning their attention to  conference play.

Fordham is off to a solid 7-4 start to the season.  However, their most notable win to date is a road win over Manhattan.  That is offset by a bad road loss to Monmouth and an even worse home loss to Sacred Heart.  Today’s game is the second to last non-conference game for the Rams, with only a trip to Siena on Monday before A-10 play starts.  This appears to be Harvard’s game to lose today, but Tom Pecora’s Rams should be ready and it would not be a shock if this game is close all the way.