Hoops HD

-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.

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!