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This week, we discuss Texas’s big win at North Carolina, and go against the national consensus that it solidified Texas as a good team. We also talk some Big East hoops. The conference has a lot of wins, but they don’t have many good wins, and there is a debate on how many teams from that league we’ll see in the dance this March. We look at UMass, and how they continue to beat good teams away from home, discuss Wichita State’s chances of winning out, and more.

Iona at Dayton, 7:00PM Eastern, NBC Sports Network

The SCGD heads to Dayton, Ohio tonight for a very interesting matchup between Tim Cluess’s Iona Gaels and Archie Miller’s Dayton Flyers.  Iona enters this game with a 5-3 record and coming off a disappointing home loss to St. Bonaventure this past weekend.  However, the Gaels are still the most likely team to contend with Manhattan for the MAAC championship this season, even if not in the at-large bid discussion.  According to KenPom, Iona’s adjusted offensive efficiency rates #34 in the country, easily making them the tops in that department in the MAAC.

The Dayton Flyers, on the other hand, are still attempting to rebound from a loss two games ago at Illinois State.  Before that loss the Flyers had slipped into the Top 25 rankings, on the strength of wins over Georgia Tech, Gonzaga and California.  The Flyers still have four more non-conference games left after tonight, including a home game against USC and a trip to Marshall Henderson country (a/k/a Ole Miss).  If they can run through these last five game before A-10 play without any blemishes, they should be in prime position for an NCAA tournament appearance even if they slip up a few times in what should be a very entertaining A-10 season.  These games are of some extra importance though given that the quirks of the A-10 schedule have the Flyers only playing UMass, George Washington, VCU and St. Louis once each — a schedule which should let them seriously contend for the regular season title but also will not give them as much of a boost in ratings such as RPI, BPI and KenPom as some of the other teams in the conference will get.

On this episode, we talk about how Saint Mary’s is a sleeping giant that can not only play their way inside the bubble, but play their way into the Top 25 with a strong showing in the upcoming Diamondhead Classic. We also focus on UC Santa Barbara and discuss the possibilities of them getting an at-large if they absolutely dominate the Big West.

We look at Conference USA and how there are three or four decent teams in it with UAB, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss, but then point out how the 16 team format does the league no favors because the good teams only get to play each other once, which it harder to build their profile.

All that, and more!

Welcome to another edition of the SCGD!  There are days when yours truly has to pull and scratch and dig to find a game to feature in this column  Days when I have to sit there and pour over teams to find anything of note to discuss about them.  Days when I almost (or sometimes do, though more likely that is because my day job intervened) give up and just say we will not have an SCGD.  Then there are days like today — days when there are so many games to look at that I don’t know who to feature.  Instead of making a choice today, I decided to just list them all!

Drexel at St. Joseph’s, 7:00 PM Eastern (Comcast Network Philadelphia/SNY):  Drexel is the “sixth” member of the Philadelphia Big 5 — while they are located in Philly with Villanova, Temple, Penn, La Salle and St. Joe’s, they are not historically a true part of this rivalry and very rarely have a regular season game against all five other members.  However, so far this year they have been the second best team in Philadelphia, behind Villanova, and can continue to build their resume with a win tonight.

Massachusetts at Ohio, 7:00 PM (no TV): UMass is a top 25 team and one of 13 remaining unbeatens.  They have a legitimate road test tonight at Ohio U, a team off to a solid 7-02 start even though they have no true wins of note so far.

Winthrop at North Carolina Central, 7:00 PM (no TV): We always enjoy a game between the top teams in two conferences and that is what this game presents.  Winthrop appears to be one of a few teams with a shot at winning the Big South while NC Central has already scored a road win at NC State and should be at the top of the MEAC standings all season.

Indiana State at St. Louis, 8:00 PM (FSN Midwest/Fox College Sports): Saint Louis has quietly put together a solid record and should be a contender in the A-10 all season long.  Indiana State made some noise with a win earlier this season at Notre Dame, but may have given all that goodwill back with a loss to a bad Tulsa team.  A win tonight should get them back into the MVC at-large picture though.

Southern Miss at Western Kentucky, 8:00 PM (HSSN/espn3): Southern Miss can continue to build their resume that only has a single loss at Louisville on it to date (albeit a complete blowout loss).  The best thing that can be said about WKU so far is that they did not get beaten as badly by Louisville, though it was still pretty much a blowout.

Open Bible at Abilene Christian, 7:00 PM (no TV): This final game may be a shock to be appearing with the rest, but if a choice had to be made, the SCGD may very well have selected this one.  There are times during a season that a team plays 3 games in 3 days — normally it is during an in-season tournament like the Maui Invitational or in conference tournament play.  Open Bible, a startup athletic program, is playing 3 games in 3 days this week against transitional D1 schools.  They played at Incarnate Word Monday and Tuesday, losing both games handily, and today travel to Abilene Christian for their third straight game.  Abilene is playing its second game in 2 days as well, having beaten Bacone last night.  Both Incarante Word and Abilene Christian are in their first year of transition from D2 to D1 this season.

Below are my latest Merit Rankings. Just a reminder that I only rank teams on the quality of their wins and the crappiness of their losses, not their perceived potential or overall strength. Teams like Louisville, Kentucky and Duke appear to be lower in the rankings than what I feel the overall strength of their team is, but until they beat someone that is better than mediocre, they’re going to be ranked behind all of the teams that have actually beaten someone good.

….and just so no one is confused by my notes “notable” loss means “detrimental to a degree.”

This works like a seed list that a selection committee member would put together, so the best team from each conference is included and in ALL CAPS.

Also, below are tonight’s highlighted games.

1. ARIZONA – best wins by far, and many away from home
2. WISCONSIN – very strong wins and no bad losses
3. VILLANOVA – strong wins, including the win against Kansas away from home
4. SYRACUSE – notable wins away from home in Maui
5. BAYLOR – several notable wins away from home
6. North Carolina – a bi-polar profile, but none of the losses were terrible and the win against Michigan State may be the best overall win so far
7. Michigan State – hasn’t looked good, but profile wise they’ve won their games
8. FLORIDA – Good profile, especially considering that they weren’t at full strength
9. Kansas – Decent wins and no bad losses. Colorado and Florida won’t lose many home games
10. UMASS – unbeaten. Lots of good wins. No great ones
11. Oregon – hasn’t always looked good, but they have decent wins and should be better once they’re at full strength
12. WICHITA STATE – the win at Saint Louis was better than what many may realize. Still, no great wins, but they are unbeaten
13. Colorado – No bad losses and some notable wins, albeit at home. The team is improving.
14. CONNECTICUT – unbeaten with notable wins
15. Iowa State – decent wins at home, and a good road win at BYU
16. Dayton – Neutral wins against Gonzaga and California. Road loss to Illinois State, which isn’t good, but not overly damaging
17. SAINT MARY’S – very good profile. Home wins against Drake, North Dakota State and Louisiana Tech. All decent programs. Road win at Boise State.
18. Iowa – Neutral wins against Xavier and Drake. Home win against Notre Dame. No bad losses.
19. SAN DIEGO STATE – Neutral wins against Crieighton and Marquette. Decent road win against San Diego. No bad losses
20. BELMONT – profile is bi-polar. Good road win against North Carolina. Decent road win against Middle Tennessee. Bad loss at South Dakota State
21. UC SANTA BARBARA – This an under the radar team that will be better than their final profile. Decnt road win at UNLV. Decent home win against Cal. No bad losses
22. Oklahoma State – This team is much better than their current ranking, but right now they just have one good win at home against Memphis, and decent neutral floor wins against Purdue and Butler.
23. Memphis – Neutral floor win against Oklahoma State
24. Vcu –Kind of a disappointment so far. Road wins against Virginia and Belmont, road loss to Northern Iowa.
25. Ucla – Decent home wins against Drexel and UCSB. No notable neutral or road wins. No bad losses
26. Ohio State – Decnt road win at Marquette. Decent home win against North Dakota State. No losses.
27. Gonzaga – best win is a neutral game against Arkansas. No bad losses.
28. Byu – Neutral wins against Texas and Utah State. Has 4 losses, but none that are that damaging.
29. New Mexico – decent win at New Mexico State. Decent home win against Cincinnati. No bad losses
30. George Washington – decent wins against Creighton (neutral) and Manhattan (road). No bad losses
31. DREXEL – no bad losses, but no really good wins either.  Have played a lot of road games. Decent neutral win against Alabama (maybe)
32. Missouri – decent home win against UCLA. Has not played a true road game yet
33. Louisville – Best win is at home against Southern Miss. No bad losses
34. SOUTHERN MISS – decent road win against North Dakota State. No bad losses
35. NORTH DAKOTA STATE – Bad loss at North Dakota. Somewhat notable win at Notre Dame (maybe)
36. Utah State – Good road win at UCSB. No bad losses, but a somewhat damaging loss at home to Pacific
37. Kentucky – No bad losses, but their best win is at home against Boise State
38. Pacific – notable road win at Utah State. No bad losses
39. Lsu – notable neutral win against Butler. No bad losses
40. Uab – good home win against North Carolina. Damaging neutral loss to Temple.
41. Duke – No bad losses, but their best win is at home against Michigan, who has struggled
42. Michigan – best win is Florida State (neutral). 4 losses, only damaging one is Charlotte
43. Florida State – No bad losses. Best win is VCU (neutral)
44. Virginia – best wins are Missouri State (neutral) and SMU (neutral). Notable loss to Green Bay
45. Butler – Decent win against Princeton. No bad losses
46. Marquette – decent win against George Washington (neutral). Has lost 4 games, but none are overly damaging.
47. Minnesota – decent road win at Richmond. Notable neutral loss to Arkansas
48. Oklahoma – No good wins. No bad losses
49. PRINCETON – No good wins. No bad losses.
50. Harvard – decent neutral win against Green Bay.
51. GREEN BAY – decent home win against Virginia
52. Xavier – notable loss to USC (neutral). Decent win against Cincinnati (neutral) and Tennessee (home)
53. California – I think this team will rise, but they don’t have the profile yet. Only notable win is Arkansas (neutral)
54. Tennessee – decent win against Xavier (neutral). Bad loss to UTEP (neutral)
55. Georgetown – good neutral win against VCU. Bad loss to Northeastern
56. Arkansas – Decent win against Minnesota (neutral). No bad losses
57. Creighton – decent neutral win against Arizona State (for now). No bad losses
58. Texas – Good record, but no notable wins
59. NEW MEXICO STATE – No bad losses, but no really good wins yet either
60. Usc – decent neutral win against Xavier. 3 losses, the worst being to Wake Forest
61. Ole Miss – Good record, but no good wins
62. Boise State – Good record, but no good wins
63. Richmond – Decent home win against Belmont. Notable loss at Wake Forest
64. Pittsburgh – unbeaten against a weak schedule
65. Illinois – has just one loss against a weak schedule
66. TOLEDO – unbeaten against a weak schedule
67. Saint John’s – no good wins yet, but no really bad losses either
68. Saint Louis – good team, but doesn’t have any good wins yet
69. Stanford – good record, but no good wins
70. Clemson – good record, but no good wins
71. Cincinnati – good record, but no good wins other than a home win against NC State, who woll likely struggle on the road
72. NC CENTRAL – decent road win at NC State
73. Smu – good record, but no good wins
74. Drake – decent record, but no good wins
75. Missouri State – good record, but no good wins
76. Ohio – good record, but no good wins
77. Louisiana Lafayette – good record, but no good wins
78. MANHATTAN – Metro Atlantic leader
79. BUCKNELL – Patriot Leader
80. MERCER – Atlantic Sun leader
81. LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE – Sun Belt leader
82. NORTHERN COLORADO – Big Sky leader
83. STEPHEN F AUSTIN – Southland leader
84. STONY BROOK – America East leader
85. SAINT FRANCIS COLLEGE – Northeast Leader (formerly SFNY, but now wants to be called Saint Francis College, unlike Saint Francis University (SFPA, who wants to be called Saint Francis University)
86. WINTHROP – Big South Leader
87. ELON – SoCon leader
88. JACKSON STATE – SWAC leader

TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-PITTSBURGH AT CINCINNATI. Both of these teams need to approach this with a huge sense of urgency. As you can see above, neither have done anything other than beat up on cupcakes yet.

-FLORIDA AT MEMPHIS. Both teams have wins of note, but one gets the sense that Memphis needs this a lot more.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT NEW MEXICO. New Mexico won on the road earlier this year. New Mexico State should absolutely dominate the WAC, but they haven’t picked up a real signature win out of conference yet, and as weak as the WAC is, they better hope they don’t lose in the conference tournament if they are unable to pick up at least one decent win.

-CHARLOTTE AT FLORIDA STATE. This is an interesting game that both teams need. Both can be good when they want to be, but both also have a tendency to not show up. Charlotte has a noteworthy win against Michigan, but they have a bad loss at Charleston Southern and Michigan is struggling right now.

-MISSOURI STATE AT LOUISVILLE. Missouri State comes into this game with just one loss, and I believe they were without two of their starters for that game. Still, if they want to enter the discussion of being an at-large bid, they need to pull off a win of this caliber. Chances are they’re in over their heads.

-WICHITA STATE AT ALABAMA. Alabama has been disappointing this year, and Wichita has been strong both at home and on the road. This is a game that Bama really needs.

-BELMONT AT DENVER. (SEE HERE:  https://hoopshd.com/2013/12/17/small-conference-game-of-the-day-december-17/

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT WAKE FOREST. I don’t’ think we’ll see either of these teams in the discussion at the end, but for now they both have good records.

-TOLEDO AT ARKANSAS STATE. Toledo hasn’t beaten anyone good, but they’ve beaten all the teams they’ve played.

-YALE AT PROVIDENCE. A win for the Friars gets them to a modest 9-2.

-NORTH FLORIDA AT MICHIGAN STATE (buy game)

-DELAWARE STATE AT OKLAHOMA STATE (buy game)

-TX ARLINGTON AT OKLAHOMA (buy game)

Griggs  @HoopsHDDavidG

Belmont at Denver, 10:00PM Eastern (no TV)

Before getting to tonight’s game, the SCGD and all of us here at HoopsHD would like to tip our hats to the Grambling State Tigers.  Grambling sneaked by one of the worst NAIA teams, Central Baptist, last night to break their 32 game losing streak.  With Cornell now sitting as the lone winless team, however, Grambling is still in line to pick up their second straight Centenary Award as the worst team in Division I.

For tonight’s SCGD, we head to Denver, Colorado for a game between Joe Scott’s Denver Pioneers out of the Summit League and Rick Byrd’s Belmont Bruins.  Denver enters tonight’s game at 4-5 on the season…and they really have not even been that good.  Preseason Denver looked to be a solid contender in the Summit with North Dakota State; however, they have proven to date to be one of the more disappointing teams in all of D1.  They have suffered bad losses to Pepperdine and Mercer, and struggled to beat the likes of Southern, Wyoming, and even Alaska-Anchorage.  Brett Olson and Chris Udofia have led the way so far for the Pioneers, being their only two scorers averaging double digits — although Cam Griffin has been solid as well, averaging 9 points and 7 boards per game.

As much of a disappointment as Denver has been, Belmont has been a surprise.  While we certainly expected the Bruins to contend in the Ohio Valley this year, they in fact flew out of the gate, starting 7-1 including the huge road win at North Carolina.  Their last three games have not gone as well though, losing to VCU, bouncing back for a good win against Middle Tennessee, but then suffering their worst loss of the year last time out, 85-72 to South Dakota State.  J.J. Mann has been the “mann” for Belmont so far, averaging 18.7 points and 5.2 rebounds, both of which lead the team.  The Bruins cannot afford a slip-up tonight, especially with a trip to Lexington, Kentucky on tap this weekend.  They may still be able to put themselves in at-large bid contention, but a loss in Denver will not help if they do not have an automatic bid in hand on Selection Sunday.