Hoops HD

SPOTLIGHT GAMES

-LOUISVILLE AT KENTUCKY. It’s the Saturday after Christmas, and that means the Bluegrass State is on full meltdown alert. The normal story line for this game on paper is that it is an out of conference games between two solid tournament teams who are looking for a quality win. This year it actually means a little more. Neither team has a big win yet, and at the same time neither team will have quite as many opportunities in conference to get one, so this could end up being the biggest win that either team manages on paper as well as off. Louisville has played a weaker schedule, but has looked really good against some fringe tournament teams. Kentucky is more tested, but still doesn’t have a really big win yet. It’s normally a sloppy game, and it may be again this year. The cliche of throwing the books out the window really is in play for this one. Neither team or fan base cares about winning a big game to impress the committee. They care about winning this game for bragging rights.

-VILLANOVA AT SYRACUSE. An old conference rivalry that is no longer a rivarly. Both teams are playing like protected seeds, and are currently looking like #1 seeds, so it’s a low risk/high reward game. It will be a great win for whoever pulls it off, but it won’t be a damaging loss at all for whoever doesn’t.

-PROVIDENCE AT UMASS. UMass is at home today, which is a place that haven’t been at all that often this season. They have an impressive resume despite the fact that they’re coming off a loss to Florida State. Providence has just two losses this year, but doesn’t have any really good wins. This is a huge game for them because if they can get this one on the road it would go a long way as far as them making the dance. The problem is they’re battling injuries and suspensions. UMass, on the other hand, is looking to add another notable win to their already impressive profile.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NEBRASKA AT CINCINNATI. Both teams have decent records, but neither have a really good win yet, although Cincinnati did beat what is currently a decent Pitt team. Nebraska is better than expected, but if they are actually good enough to be in the discussion then they need this win.

-BELMONT AT INDIANA STATE. Belmont has lost three straight and Indiana State has dropped some games as well since winning at Notre Dame. If either team wants any shot at all at an at-large then they need to win this one.

-EASTERN MICHIGAN AT DUKE. At 7-3, Eastern Michigan has played well and appears to be better than expected, but they’re likely way overmatched in this one. Still, when you consider how weak Duke’s defense has been, and how they still don’t have a hugely impressive win, it does appear to be a game that’s at least worth watching.

-SOUTHERN MISS AT RHODE ISLAND. Southern Miss is a respectable 11-2, but because they don’t have a strong schedule or conference, their margin for error is thin. They need to pretty much win them all if they want to stay in the discussion.

-UIC VS ILLINOIS. This game is in Chicago, but it will be a very pro-Illini crowd. Illinois just had a big win against Missouri, and this is their first game back. They’ve struggled in the past against UIC, so although it may look like a cakewalk, Illinois may sweat a bit.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT HOFSTRA. A win for GW puts them at 11-1. Despite their good record and despite this being a road game, a loss would be somewhat damaging.

-HARVARD AT FORDHAM. Fordham, who has perennially been one of the worst teams in div1, is now out to a respectable 7-4 record and has actually looked decent at times. They may put up a fight at home against a Harvard team, who suddenly needs to be conscious of their OOC games now that Princeton is on the scene.

-BYU AT LMU. BYU has some decent wins, but they’ve struggled recently and really need to have a sense of urgency against an LMU team that has been tough to beat at home so far.

-WAKE FOREST AT XAVIER. Wake is out to a quiet 10-2 start, and has looked decent at times. Xavier has won four straight since losing all three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Both of these teams have shown signs of life, but both still have a feel of being on the outside looking in and trying to solidify themselves, so both need to come into this with a sense of urgency.

-OLD DOMINION AT RICHMOND. Richmond, I believe, is running out of strikes. They need to go on a massive winning streak if they want to be in the picture. They can’t afford a loss to their cross state rivals today.

-CLEVELAND STATE AT KENT STATE. If Kent State can get a win against their neighbors to the north, they’ll improve to an impressive 10-2.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT VCU. VCU has been disappointing so far, but they still have a ton of potential and shouldn’t have too much trouble today.

-SANTA CLARA AT GONZAGA (West Coast). Gonzaga has a good record, but doesn’t have any big wins yet, so they won’t have a huge margin for error in conference play.

-MISSOURI AT NC STATE. I’ve said all along that I think Missouri is good at home, but terrible on the road. If they truly are a top 25 team, this is the kind of road game that they should be able to win. NC State is decent, but not great, despite their 9-2 record. Their only win of note so far is at Tennessee, so it’s a big game for them as well.

-GEORGIA AT COLORADO. The Buffs should have little trouble in this one.

-ALABAMA AT UCLA. Alabama has been somewhat disappointing this year and is likely overmatched in this one.

BUY GAMES

-Eastern Washington at UConn

-Jackson State at Memphis

-FIU at Georgetown

-NJIT at Butler. NJIT is having a decent year by their standards, but they’re way overmatched today.

-Prarie View A&M at Wisconsin

-UC Irvine at Arizona State. I’m still not completely sold on the Sun Devils, but a win does get them to 12-2

-Coppin State at Toledo. A win for the Rockets gets them to 12-0.

-Lamar at Colorado State

-New Orleans at Michigan State

-Tulane vs Kansas State (Not officially a buy game, but it seems like one. The game is in Brooklyn, NY.

-Furman at California

-Holy Cross at Michigan

-High Point at Arkansas. A win for Arkansas gets them to 10-2.

McNeese State at LSU. A win for LSU gets them to 9-2, and they have decent wins over Butler and UAB.

-TAMUCC at Minnesota

-San Diego Christian (nondiv1) at Utah State

As we head into the Christmas holiday break, the SCGD heads back to Las Vegas the next two days for the Las Vegas Classic.  This exempt tournament features two separate brackets of teams playing semifinals today and Third Place/Championship games tomorrow.  The “Hosts” bracket features Mississippi State, South Florida, UNLV and Santa Clara.  However it is the “Visitors” bracket that is the feature for the next two days here at the SCGD.

The Visitors bracket begins with its semifinals today.  At 3:00PM Eastern time, Radford will be taking on Sacred Heart.  At 5:30PM, Florida A&M will battle Florida Gulf Coast.  The two losers meet in a third place game tomorrow at 2:30, while the winners meet at 5:00PM.

Radford enters this tournament with a record of 6-4.  None of their 4 losses have been awful (the worst being to Santa Clara), but on the same token none of their wins have been anything of note either (the best being over North Carolina A&T).  The Highlanders do look like they will be able to contend in the Big South’s North Division this season, though the conference’s top two teams (Winthrop and Charleston Southern) are both in the South.

Sacred Heart is 2-10 on the year so far with road wins over Fordham and Hofstra, but 10 losses to mostly mid-major and lower quality teams.  The best game the Pioneers have played so far was on November 26 when they forced Boston College to overtime before losing.  It appears that this is going to be a long season in Fairfield, CT as the Pioneers will probably be fighting to just qualify for the Northeast Conference tournament.

Florida A&M has had an even worse season so far than Sacred Heart.  They stand at 2-9 overall, with only one win over a D1 team, 63-60 at home over Stetson back on November 14.  the Rattlers losses include a loss at Jacksonville, a team which is ranked 321 in the KenPoms at the moment.  One of the lone advantages that FAMU has over Sacred Heart is the fact that the Rattlers will be in their conference tournament this year.  Unlike the NEC that only allows the top 8 of its 10 teams in, all 13 MEAC members are allowed to compete for the automatic bid in March.

Florida Gulf Coast enters the Las Vegas Classic as the favorites to win the Visitors Bracket.  While last year’s A-Sun tournament champions and surprise Sweet 16 team is only 5-6 on the year with two of those wins against non-D1 competition, their losses have for the most part been against better competition.  Two games back they appeared to have their game at South Florida on its way to triple overtime until a somewhat controversial ruling on a tip-in at the buzzer went against them.  While the Eagles have certainly not played at the level that made them everyone’s darling last March (and landed Andy Enfield at USC), there is no reason that this team will not turn things around as it heads into conference play after this tournament.

-OKLAHOMA STATE VS COLORADO. Some say Oklahoma State has looked like the best team in the country this year, but other than their win against Memphis they’ve pretty much just beaten up on weak teams. Colorado started off sluggish, but has improved every week. This is a really good test for both teams on a neutral floor, and it should be a fun one.

-ILLINOIS VS MISSOURI. It’s the Braggin Rights Game. This year’s story line is that both have good records, and Missouri does have a nice win against UCLA, but other than that neither team has any really good wins. Mizzou hasn’t even played a true road game yet, and although his is a neutral site game and it would be a big win if they pull it off, I still won’t be completely sold on them until they win a notable game while sitting in the visitor’s locker room. This game is always fun, and hopefully will be again tonight.

-GEORGETOWN AT KANSAS. Georgetown really needs some notable wins. Kansas has played a killer schedule and although they’re 7-3, none of their losses are that damaging and they have a few good wins to go along with it, so they’re still in good shape.

-BELMONT AT KENTUCKY. Belmont managed some big wins, but they’ve added two really bad losses to their profile, which really hurts their chances for an at-large. I think they need to win today just to get back into the conversation. Kentucky still doesn’t have any big time notable wins yet.

-EAST CAROLINA AT NC STATE. Both teams have just two losses, but need big wins on their profile.

-UMASS VS FLORIDA STATE. This game is in Miami, and is a good test for both teams. Florida State has looked great at times, but has also been inconsistent. UMass has a string of notable wins and comes into this one unbeaten, but it’s still a big test for them if the Seminoles decide to show up.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT CINCINNATI. It was an ugly game, but it was one Cincinnati really needed against Pitt. Middle Tennessee is good as well, and the Bearcats do not want to overlook them.

-YOUNGSTOWN STATE AT SAINT JOHN’S. I haven’t been that impressed with the Johnnies this year, but a win does get them to 8-3.

-MAINE AT PROVIDENCE. A win for Providence gets them to 10-2.

-BUFFALO AT MANHATTAN. We kind of wrote off Manhattan after a couple of early season losses, but they’ve held serve and are now 8-2. Their schedule is weak, so if they want to even be considered for an at-large their margin for error is razor thin.

-KENT STATE AT CHARLESTON. A win for Kent gets them to 9-2.

-BUTLER AT EVANSVILLE. Butler has just two losses on the season, but lacks notable wins and could always use a true road win on their profile.

-GONZAGA AT KANSAS STATE. K State hasn’t looked good at all when I’ve seen them, but they have a decent 7-3 record and can get a notable win today. Gonzaga doesn’t have a huge amount of notable wins either, so both teams should have somewhat of a sense of urgency coming into this one.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT TEXAS. Texas is 10-1 and although they are coming off a big win against UNC, they had played a weak schedule prior to that and struggled in a lot of their games. Michigan State, despite their high ranking, hasn’t always played well either. This is a good test for both teams.

-RIDER AT VILLANOVA. A win for Nova improves them to 11-0.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT VIRGINIA. Virginia has to string together some wins if they want to get back on track.

-CAL POLY AT PITTSBURGH. Pitt has only one loss, but they still don’t have any good wins.

-VERMONT AT HARVARD. A win for the Crimson gets them to 10-1.

-NC A&T AT SAINT LOUIS. A win for SLU gets them to 11-2.

-FRESNO STATE AT FLORIDA. The Gators have looked good so far despite not always being at full strength. A win in this one gets them to 9-2.

-DAVIDSON AT NORTH CAROLINA. North Carolina is a schizophrenic team with some great looking wins and some questionable losses. It’ll be interesting to see who shows up today.

-UAB AT LSU. These are two teams that appear to be right on the bubble, and could really use this win, especially UAB, who has very few notable games after this.

-VCU AT VIRGINIA TECH. Both teams really need this one. I wasn’t big on Virginia Tech at all this year, but they do have a somewhat respectable 7-3 record.

-LOUISVILLE AT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL. Louisville shouldn’t have too much trouble in this one. They haven’t played a tough schedule, but they have beaten up on some pretty decent teams lately.

-TEXAS TECH AT ARIZONA STATE. A win for Arizona State will improve them to 10-2.

-OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS A&M (Big Twelve). Both teams have good records, but have beaten up on weak teams. It is yet to be determined if either one of them are actually good, so this is important. Not to mention, it’s a conference game.

-USC UPSTATE AT CHARLOTTE. I haven’t entirely given up on Charlotte, but they have a very small margin for error now.

-XAVIER AT ALABAMA. At 5-5, Alabama has been somewhat of a disappointment this year and needs to start stringing together some wins in order to get back in the NCAA Tourney picture. Outside of dropping three losses in the Battle 4 Atlantis, Xavier has looked pretty good, but they have no wins away from home. In order to be taken seriously they need to win on the road.

-OHIO STATE VS NOTRE DAME. Notre Dame is 8-3, but other than their win over Indiana they have looked very sluggish and need a big win to establish themselves as a tournament team. The question is are they good enough to beat an Ohio State team that has frequently looked like a #1 seed.

-WESTERN ILLINOIS VS UC SANTA BARBARA. UCSB fell short in an overtime game against Utah State last night that they really needed. They need to rebound and avoid a bad loss today.

-SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AT MEMPHIS. SEMO has a good record, but they’re likely overmatched today.

-TOWSON AT NORTH DAKOTA STATE. North Dakota State pretty much needs to win out to have any shot at all at an at-large.

-BRADLEY AT PACIFIC. A win for Pacific gets them to an impressive 9-2.

-STANFORD VS MICHIGAN. Both teams need this game. Stanford just got a notable win against UConn, but could use some more meet on their resume. Michigan has been disappointing all year and needs some wins just to get back in the NCAA Tournament conversation.

-THE CIDATEL AT NEBRASKA. They haven’t played the toughest schedule, but a win for Nebraska gets them to 8-3.

-MARQUETTE AT NEW MEXICO. Both Teams have been somewhat of a disappointment this season, and a win in this game would go a long way in getting them turned around.

-BYU AT OREGON. BYU has looked good this year, but Oregon has looked really good. This is a match-up between two solid tournament caliber teams.

Holy Cross at NJIT, 2:00PM Eastern, No TV

The SCGD is moving off the beaten trail today to turn our attention back to the one team that started the season having already clinched a title.  NJIT has already locked up the best record among all Independents…by virtue of being the lone Division I Independent.  NJIT plays its last home game of the 2013 calendar year tonight when the Highlanders welcome in the Holy Cross Crusaders.

NJIT enters today’s game at 6-6 overall though their best wins to date are a sweep of a home and home with Maine and a win over Lafayette.  After today, 8 of their next 9 will be on the road, with only a home game against CCNY before welcoming in Duquesne on January 29.  This stretch of 10 games will go a long way to determining if the Highlanders can achieve a .500 season.  A .500 record could mean a lot to this program as it could very well bring with it a bid to the CIT tournament (the CIT took a .500 Independent Cal State-Bakersfield team a few years back).  Of course, this time next year NJIT hopes to be preparing for conference play assuming they can obtain membership in the America East, Northeast, Metro Atlantic or the like.

Holy Cross enters today’s game with a 5-5 record, though 3 of those five losses have been to North Carolina, Harvard and Belmont.  The Crusaders are looking to break a two game losing streak today before their last non-conference game next Saturday at Michigan.  Holy Cross has played well enough so far this year that, at least at this point, it appears they will be a factor in the Patriot League title chase along with Bucknell, Boston U, and possibly Lafayette.  Barring a major upset at Michigan next weekend, Holy Cross needs this game to be at .500 heading into league play.

Pacific vs Princeton, 10:30 PM Eastern, No TV, video stream here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/holiday-hoops-classic-2013

The SCGD heads to Las Vegas tonight for the South Point Casino Holiday Hoops Classic.  This two day, four team event’s* marquee matchup comes tonight with a battle of two Tigers – the Princeton Tigers out of the Ivy League and the Pacific tigers out of the West Coast Conference.  This is also a battle of two teams that enter tonight with 8-1 overall records.

Princeton has been a surprise so far this season, having only lost a 3 point game at Butler so far.  They have a road win over Rutgers and an almost unbelievable come-from-behind win last time out at Penn State.  Princeton was down 18 points late in this game and forcing overtime seemed next to impossible even under a minute left, but somehow they did and won it in OT, 81-79.  Harvard still appears to be the best team, on paper at least, in the Ivy League, but Princeton has shown so far that they may challenge the Crimson when we reach conference play.

Pacific has also gotten off to a great start in the first season in the WCC.  They lost 85-62 a few weeks back at Oregon, but that score does not show that Pacific actually had a double digit lead most of the first half of that game before the Ducks just poured it on the second.  The Tigers did score a solid road win two weeks ago against a pretty good Utah State team.  Their two games this weekend in Vegas (tonight and tomorrow night against Bradley) are their final two games before moving into WCC play.  If they can win the title in this event, Gonzaga, BYU and St. Mary’s should at least be put on some notice that the West Coast Conference race this year may be a four way fight and not just a three.

*Technically the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic is a four day event featuring a total of 14 teams, but all other games involve Division II men’s and women’s teams.