Bracket Racket – 12.2.2013

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Johnny Basketball

HHDpods

On this somewhat delayed edition of the Bracket Racket, we wrap up Feast Week with a roundtable discussion of a variety of games, including Oklahoma State – Butler, Oklahoma State – Memphis, North Carolina – UAB, Villanova – Kansas, Arizona – Duke, and all the outcomes from Atlantis, Old Spice, the Preseason NIT, the Wooden Legacy, and more. We also talk about the questions surrounding Kentucky, the trevails of the Big East and the Pac 12, and the success of Wichita State. We finish up by previewing the week upcoming, including the ACC – Big Ten challenge.

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Merit Rankings for Sunday, Dec 1st (and Today’s Highlighted Games)

Posted on December 1, 2013 by David Griggs

MERIT RANKINGS.  As a reminder, this ranks the value of a team’s wins and losses.  Nothing more.  It’s not necessarily a ranking of how good I think each team is.

1. ARIZONA. 7-0. Road win at San Diego State. Neutral floor wins against Duke and Drexel.
2. SYRACUSE. 7-0. Neutral floor wins against Minnesota, Cal and Baylor
3. WISCONSIN. 8-0. Notable wins vs Florida (home), vs Saint John’s (neutral), @ Green Bay, vs Saint Louis (neutral).
4. VILLANOVA. 7-0. Neutral floor wins against Kansas and Iowa. Decisive home win against Towson.
5. MICHIGAN STATE. 7-0. Neutral floor wins against Kentucky and Oklahoma
6. IOWA STATE. 5-0. Road win at BYU. Home win against Michigan.
7. OHIO STATE. 7-0. Decisive win at Marquette.
8. NORTH CAROLINA. 4-1. Neutral wins against Louisville and Richmond
9. DAYTON. 6-1. Neutral wins over Gonzaga and California. Road win at Georgia Tech. No bad losses
10. BELMONT. 6-1. Win at North Carolina. No bad losses. Home win against Indiana State.
11. UMASS. 6-0. Neutral wins against New Mexico, Nebraska and Clemson
12. BAYLOR. 5-1. Neutral floor wins against Dayton and Colorado
13. CONNECTICUT. 6-0. Neutral wins against Indiana and Maryland
14. OKLAHOMA STATE. 7-0. Home win against Memphis. Neutral win against Butler. 4-0 away from home.
15. KANSAS. 6-1. Neutral floor win against Duke.
16. SAN DIEGO STATE. 3-1. Neutral win against Creighton. No bad losses
17. OREGON. 6-0. Neutral win against Georgetown. Home win against Pacific
18. MARQUETTE. 5-2. No bad losses. Neutral floor win over George Washington.
19. GEORGETOWN. Notable win vs VCU. Bad loss to Northeastern.
20. IOWA. 7-1. No bad losses. Notable neutral wins against Xavier and UTEP.
21. MICHIGAN. 5-2. Neutral win against Florida State. Notable loss to Charlotte
22. FLORIDA STATE. 5-2. Neutral win against VCU. Close losses to Michigan (neutral) and Florida (road)
23. DREXEL. 4-2. Neutral win against Alabama. All games have been at road or neutral sites. No bad losses.
24. DUKE. 6-2. Neutral win against Alabama. No bad losses.
25. VCU. 5-2. Road win at Virginia. No bad losses
26. WICHITA STATE. 6-0. Neutral win against BYU.
27. FLORIDA. 6-1. Home wins against Florida State and Middle Tennessee. No bad losses
28. GONZAGA. 5-1. Neutral win against Arkansas. Home win against Colorado State. No bad losses.
29. SAINT MARY’S. 6-0. Home wins against North Dakota State, Akron and Louisiana Tech.
30. CREIGHTON. 5-1. No bad losses. Road win at Saint Joseph’s and Arizona State (neutral)
31. VIRGINIA. 7-1. Neutral floor wins against SMU and Missouri State. Home loss to VCU
32. CHARLOTTE. 5-1. Neutral win against Michigan. Bad loss at College of Charleston.
33. MINNESOTA. 5-2. Road win at Richmond. Neutral floor loss to Arkansas
34. ARIZONA STATE. 7-1. No bad losses. Home win against Marquette
35. COLORADO. 7-1. Home win against Harvard
36. CALIFORNIA. 5-2. Neutral win against Arkansas. No bad losses
37. SOUTHERN MISS. 5-1. No bad losses. Win at North Dakota State.
38. UCLA. 5-2. Home win against Drexel
39. MEMPHIS. 4-1. No bad losses. Neutral win against LSU
40. PITTSBURGH. 7-0. Neutral win against Stanford
41. LOUISVILLE. 6-1. No bad losses. Home win against Southern Miss
42. CINCINNATI. 6-0.
43. MISSOURI STATE. 6-1. No bad losses. Neutral win against Texas A&M.
44. ILLINOIS. 7-0
45. INDIANA. 6-1. No bad losses
46. MARYLAND. 7-2. Neutral win against Providence
47. OREGON STATE. 3-1. Road win at Maryland
48. GEORGE WASHINGTON. 5-1. Road win at Manhattan. No bad losses.
49. RICHMOND. 6-2. No bad losses
50. NEW MEXICO. 6-2. No bad losses
51. TENNESSEE. 6-2. No bad losses, neutral wins against Xavier and Wake Forest.
52. LSU. 4-2. No bad losses. Neutral win against Saint Joseph’s
53. UTAH STATE. 5-1. No bad losses. Road win at UCSB
54. HARVARD. 6-1. No bad losses. Neutral win against Green Bay
55. LOUISIANA TECH. 4-1. No bad losses.
56. KENTUCKY. 6-1. No bad losses
57. BUTLER. 5-1. No good wins. Close loss vs Oklahoma State.
58. SAINT LOUIS. 6-1. No bad losses
59. BOISE STATE. 5-0
60. MISSOURI. 6-0
61. OLE MISS. 6-0
62. PROVIDENCE. 7-1. Lost to Maryland.
63. SMU. 6-2. Losses to Arkansas and Virginia
64. KENT STATE. 6-1

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES FOR SUNDAY, DEC 1ST

-WICHITA STATE AT SAINT LOUIS. This would be a much needed win of note for SLU. It would be one of Wichita’s Biggest wins on the season up to this point as well.

-CSU BAKERSFILED AT DRAKE. A win for Drake gets them to 6-1.

-BUTLER VS LSU (Old Spice Classic). Both of these teams need notable wins.

-MIAMI FL VS ARIZONA STATE (Wooden Legacy). A win for Arizona State gets them to an impressive 8-1.

-VCU VS BELMONT. A huge game between two teams that already have some good wins and are looking for some more. You get the sense that Belmont needs this a little more.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT UAB. North Carolina has the chance to pick up another road win. UAB is 6-2 and has looked good at times, but doesn’t have anything overly impressive on their resume yet.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON VS CREIGHTON (Wooden Legacy). Both teams need to build their profiles.

-MEMPHIS VS OKLAHOMA STATE (Old Spice Classic). Memphis needs a big win. It’s been years since they’ve had one. Okie State blew them out earlier this year, but hasn’t looked that good in their last two games.

-MARQUETTE VS SAN DIEGO STATE (Wooden Legacy). Both appear to be solid tournament teams, so it would be a quality win for whoever pulls it off.

-PROVIDENCE AT KENTUCKY. Kentucky has been tested, but doesn’t have any big wins yet. Providence is 7-1, but doesn’t have anything on their profile nearly as big as this would likely be.

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Highlighted Games for Saturday, Nov 30th

Posted on November 30, 2013 by David Griggs

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out our most recent Under the Radar podcast here….

https://hoopshd.com/2013/11/29/under-the-radar-1129/

 

SPOTLIGHT GAMES

-BYU AT UTAH STATE. Most outside the region may not realize this, but this is a huge rivalry game. BYU has two losses, but has looked really good this season. Utah State is unbeaten and although they have some decent wins, they don’t have any as good as this one would be. Expect an absolutely electric atmosphere and an intense game for this one.

-IOWA VS VILLANOVA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams have looked great in this tournament and appear to be on their way to big seasons. Iowa’s OOC schedule was weak, so it’s been hugely beneficial that they’ve been able to play and beat good competition in this tournament. Nova picked up a huge win yesterday against Kansas, so like Iowa they’re in pretty good shape early on.

-VIRGINIA VS MISSOURI STATE (Cancun Challenge). Virginia is unbeaten so far.  So is Missouri State, but they’re also largely untested. If they can win today it would be a huge statement win that would earn them some attention.

 

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED MATCH-UPS

-SOUTH ALABAMA AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Middle Tennessee has just one loss on the year, but has a razor thin margin for error.

-PITTSBURGH VS DUQUESNE. The City Game. Pitt has looked good, but hasn’t really been tested.

-XAVIER VS USC (Battle 4 Atlantis). Xavier has lost two games in this tournament and will be in rough shape if they drop this one today.

-EVANSVILLE AT OHIO. Both teams have just one loss, but neither has any wins of note yet.

-SAINT JOHN’S VS GEORGIA TECH. Both teams have decent records, but neither have looked all that impressive yet.

-SAN DIEGO AT NEW MEXICO. San Diego has just one loss, but they haven’t really managed a quality win. New Mexico has been tested a little more, but still needs to acquire some big wins.

-PACIFIC VS CAL POLY. Pacific has just one loss (yesterday to Oregon) and may be a team to keep an eye on.

-TENNESSEE VS WAKE FOREST (Battle 4 Atlantis). Neither team was expected to do much this year, but both have looked good at times and have decent records. They both need decent wins, though.

-COLORADO AT AIR FORCE (Front Range). A win for Colorado gets them to 7-1, which is pretty good since we think they’ve gotten off to a slower start than usual.

-RHODE ISLAND AT GEORGE MASON (Atlantic Ten). Kind of an early conference game. Neither team has looked great, but both have looked decent and have just two losses so far.

-PENN STATE VS OLE MISS. Neither team has any wins that really jump out at you, but both have solid records.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT COLORADO STATE. We talked about this last night, but due to the WAC being as weak as it is, they need to pick up wins like this on the road if they want to be taken seriously.

-JAMES MADISON AT RICHMOND. Richmond is improving and needs to hold serve in these games against lower caliber teams.

-INDIANA STATE VS PEPPERDINE (Great Alaska Shootout). Both have been somewhat disappointing in this tournament, but both have potential and could use this win.

-NORTH DAKOTA AT OREGON. North Dakota should make quite a bit of noise in conference play, but they’re overmatched by a very good Oregon team today.

-SMU VS TEXAS A&M (Corpus Christi Challenge). Both teams have good records but neither has a good win, or a decent win, or a win that barely registers as mediocre up to this point.

-UTEP VS KANSAS (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are looking to rebound from their losses yesterday.

-DRAKE AT NORTHERN ARIZONA. I’m not all the way on the bandwagon by any means, but a win for Drake does get them to 5-1.

-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT NC STATE. NC State has a loss at home to NC Central already, and this EKU team is better than that. They have just one loss on the year and are one of the better teams in the OVC.

-HARVARD VS TCU (Great Alaska Shootout). I’m much more impressed with Harvard than TCU at this point, but if they win this tournament it would be a great start for the Horned Frogs.

ROBERT MORRIS AT GEORGETOWN. RMU is one of the better teams in the NEC and Georgetown has struggled at times, so they can’t just overlook them.

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Under the Radar, 11/29

Posted on November 29, 2013 by David Griggs

We are back, with great content and novice video production.

This week, we continue to focus on the success of the Atlantic Ten, particularly Dayton’s success out in Maui and how they are one of the biggest surprises in college basketball this year. We talk about how they have completely outperformed leagues such as the Big East and SEC and could get as many as five teams in the NCAA Tournament.

We also highlight a game tonight between two unbeaten, but untested teams in Missouri State and Texas A&M down in Corpus Christi, and a big game up in Alaska between Green Bay and Harvard, both of whom appear to be the best teams in their conferences and could make quite a bit of noise in March.

New Mexico State is another team we focus on with their big upcoming games against Colorado State and rival New Mexico.

Middle Tennessee and Belmont are trying to build the kind of profiles that could get them at-large bids, and we talk about their big game against each other this week.

We look at Conference USA and the MAC, and profile the teams that are off to a good start.

All that, and more!!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Highlighted Games for Thursday, Nov. 28th

Posted on November 28, 2013 by David Griggs

-DENVER VS HARVARD (Great Alaska Shootout). Denver could still have a big year, but they’ve lost both of their games so far and haven’t looked all that good yet. Harvard is coming off a loss at Colorado, but many feel they’re still a top 25 team. Chad also wrote about this in his SCGD, which is why it gets top billing.  https://hoopshd.com/2013/11/28/small-conference-game-of-the-day-thanksgiving-edition/

-PURDUE VS OKLAHOMA STATE (Old Spice Classic). Neither team has a loss yet, but Okie State has looked far better than Purdue up to this point.

-USC VS VILLANOVA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams have racked up big records against weaker competition, so this tournament is the first big test for either of them.

-MIAMI FL VS GEORGE WASHINGTON (Wooden Legacy). GW has not lost yet and appears to be pretty good, but needs to substantiate that by doing well in this tournament. Miami, on the other hand, has really struggled this year.

-BUTLER VS WASHINGTON STATE (Old Spice Classic). Butler hasn’t lost yet, but they’ve struggled against weak competition in most of their games. They’ll have the opportunity to pick up wins of note in this tournament.

-KANSAS VS WAKE FOREST (Battle 4 Atlantis). Neither team has lost yet, but Kansas has looked far superior to Wake. KU is thinking #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament whereas Wake is just looking for some recognition.

-MARQUETTE VS CAL STATE FULLERTON (Wooden Legacy). Marquette is off to a shaky 3-2 start and really needs a strong showing in this tournament to get some decent wins on their profile.

-MEMPHIS VS SIENA (Old Spice Classic). Memphis’s inability to play well against tournament caliber teams over the years is well documented. They need to pick up some quality wins in this tournament if they want to be taken seriously, and they certainly need to avoid a loss today.

-IOWA VS XAVIER (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are unbeaten, and other than Xavier’s home win against Tennessee both are also untested. It’s a good chance to get an early quality win.

-NEVADA AT UCLA. A win for the Bruins gets them to 6-0.

-CHARLESTON VS SAN DIEGO STATE (Wooden Legacy). Neither team has made a whole lot of noise yet, but has the chance to if they do well in this tournament.

-LSU VS SAINT JOSEPH’S (Old Spice Classic). Both teams have just one loss, but neither have any big wins yet.

-UTEP VS TENNESSEE (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams appear to be decent, but both need good wins on their profile.

-PEPPERDINE VS GREEN BAY (Great Alaska Shootout). Both teams have just one loss. Green Bay is the favorite to win the Horizon League, and nearly upset Wisconsin earlier in the year, so they’re definitely worth keeping an eye on. This field isn’t particularly strong, but there are still a few chances for somewhat decent wins in it.

-NORTHWESTERN VS MISSOURI (Las Vegas Invitational). Mizzou hasn’t lost yet and has a chance to really make a statement if they play well in this tournament.

-CREIGHTON VS ARIZONA STATE (Wooden Legacy). Neither team has a loss yet, and Arizona State is coming off a big home win against Marquette. This is one of the more intriguing games of the day as both teams are trying to establish themselves early.

Griggs

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Small Conference Game of the Day – Thanksgiving Edition

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Chad

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there from us here at HoopsHD.com!

While Turkey Day is traditionally a football day, recent years has seen a wealth of college basketball games available as well.  The Wooden Legacy, Battle 4 Atlantic and Old Spice Classic all have quarterfinals starting today.  In addition, there is a non-bracketed event in Las Vegas and the final two quarterfinals in the Great Alaska Shootout.

Today’s SCGD turns to the great state of Alaska, the only state in the country that does not have a Division I college basketball team, but the site every year for the Great Alaska Shootout, hosted by Alaska-Anchorage (Alaska-Fairbanks used to host the Top of the World Classic this time of year as well, but that event was cancelled about five years ago).  Last night, Tulsa upset Indiana State and TCU barely survived against Alaska-Anchorage to advance to the first of Friday’s semifinals.  Tonight, Green Bay will battle Pepperdine in the first game, while our SCGD turns to the final game of the night, Harvard vs Denver (Midnight Eastern tip time, CBS Sports Network).

Harvard enters tonight’s game with a 4-1 record, though their best win of the four was against Bryant.  They had appeared to be well on their way to winning at Colorado on Sunday, only to completely fall apart in the second half and end up losing by 8.  The Crimson’s non-conference schedule this season, however, should be more about obtaining a good seed in the NCAA tournament than obtaining an at-large bid, as there does not appear to be anyone in the Ivy League that can contend with them for the regular season title.  The Ivy is the lone conference without a postseason tournament, giving their automatic bid instead to the regular season champion.

Denver entered the season as one of a pair of teams that appeared to be ready to battle for the Summit League title.  They were predicted by some, yours truly included, as being good enough to contend for an at-large bid as well.  Joe Scott’s Pioneers have only played two games so far, but were beaten fairly easily at Cal and at home by Stanford.  With their toughest games after the Shootout being at Colorado State and home against Belmont, the Pioneers have almost no margin for error left if they are going to get on the board this March.  That makes winning tonight’s game, and in fact winning this entire tournament, almost an absolute must for Denver.

Two key players to keep an eye on tonight — Wesley Saunders for Harvard and Chris Udofia for Denver.  Saunders is a 6-5 combo guard/forward who averaged over 16 points per game last season and has netted 15.2 so far this year.  Udofia is a 6-6 forward who has averaged 14 points over the Pioneers first two games and should be the team’s top scorer all season long.

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