Small Conference Game(s) of the Day – December 8 and 9

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Chad

The SCGD is back!  Apologies for a week or so of downtime, as a few things in the world outside of college hoops has prevented any entries.  But we are back again with a pair of games tonight and tomorrow night — games from the Lumberjack E-Tech Classic.  This of course brings up the question, “What the heck is the Lumberjack E-Tech Classic???”

Stephen F. Austin (the Lumberjacks) is hosting a four team, four game event today and tomorrow down in Nacogdoches, Texas.  The Lumberjacks will play the late game on both days, hosting James Madison at 9:00PM Eastern tonight and Towson at 9:00PM Saturday night.  The early games each night (6:30 PM) involve Sam Houston State, playing Towson tonight and James Madison tomorrow night.  Saturday’s double header will be televised regionally by Comcast Sportsnet.

Stephen F. Austin is off to a 6-2 start on the season, though their best win so far was at Marshall.  They suffered a 10 point loss at Texas and an 8 point loss at East Tennessee State.  However, they should be one of the top teams in the Southland Conference this season.  Their conference mate, Sam Houston State, is coming off a pretty bad loss to Liberty, but is 5-3 on the year with their other two losses being to Texas A&M and SMU.  However, any win picked up in this event will be their best of the season to date.

The two road teams for this event are James Madison and Towson.  JMU has struggled to a 2-6 start to the season, including an 81-49 drubbing by a fairly mediocre Valparaiso team.  Not much was expected from the Dukes this season, and so far they are living up to that lack of expectations.  Towson, on the other hand, is a solid 6-2 to date with their only losses coming to Villanova and Kansas, albeit both games being blowouts.  They have already scored a solid win over Temple and Pat Skerry’s team could do nothing but help their cause if they can sweep the two games in this weekend’s event against a pair of the top Southland teams.  After a quick trip home to play a non-D1 opponent after this event, Towson has an upcoming road trip to Oregon State and North Dakota State–two games that will go a long way into showing just how good this team is.

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HoopsHD Under Eight podcast – 12/4/13

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Johnny Basketball

HHDpodsThe Under Eight podcast is our midweek check of game results from college basketball, as well as a preview of the upcoming weekend of hoops. This week, we check out the action from the ACC-Big Ten challenge, and talk at length about several teams, including commentary on North Carolina, Indiana, Notre Dame, Iowa, and Ohio State. We also talked about the upcoming matchups this weekend, including Kentucky-Baylor and others.

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Highlighted Games for Wednesday, Dec. 4th

Posted on December 4, 2013 by David Griggs

-NORTH CAROLINA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). The last time UNC played a top five team, they looked fantastic. They’re coming off a game where they looked far less than fantastic, though. Michigan State has had their struggles at home, but I don’t think they’re going to sleep walk through this one.

-NEW MEXICO AT NEW MEXICO STATE. This is a rivalry game that has quite a bit of meaning on paper as well. Both teams really need notable wins. It’s usually a fun one, and should be again tonight.

-MARYLAND AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Maryland needs a big win if they’re going to be taken seriously. Chances are they’re overmatched today, and will be overmatched whenever they play someone who would qualify as a big win. Ohio State already has a win at Marquette and is off to a great start.

-WISCONSIN AT VIRGINIA (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Virginia’s only loss on the year was a close one to VCU, but they seem to have fallen off the radar somewhat. They are facing a very good Wisconsin team today at home, and it’s a good chance for them to add a big win to their profile.

-RUTGERS AT GEORGE WASHINGTON. GW is off to a 6-1 start with a notable win over Creighton. They’ll continue to be in good shape if they can pull this one out today.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT GEORGE MASON. I don’t think we’ll be talking about either of these two at the end, but for now their records are good.

-DAVIDSON AT CHARLOTTE. This appears to be a mismatch, but it is a rivalry game. Davidson is off to a disappointing 2-5 start whereas Charlotte has just one loss (albeit a bad one), and has a notable win against Michigan down in Puerto Rico. A win gets them to 7-1 and keeps them solidly in the picture.

-BUCKNELL AT KENT STATE. They’ve played a weak schedule, but a win for Kent does get them to 9-1.

-HARVARD AT NORTHEASTERN. Northeastern is 2-5, but they’ve played a tough schedule and have played well in those games. Harvard needs to be on upset alert.

-RICHMOND AT WILLIAM & MARY. If Richmond takes care of business they should pick up a road win and improve to 7-2.

-CLEVELAND STATE AT DREXEL. This is actually Drexel’s home opener. They have close losses to UCLA and Arizona, and have played pretty well overall. Cleveland State has looked good at times as well. Drexel can make the NCAAs, but they have a thin margin for error.

-LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE AT LOUISIANA TECH. LA Tech has won six straight since losing their opener at Saint Mary’s, and should make it seven tonight.

-PENN AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). A win for Nova gets them to a very impressive 8-0.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT TEMPLE (Big Five). Saint Joseph’s is off to an okay start at 4-2, but needs to start racking up wins if they want to be taken seriously.

-MOREHEAD STATE AT SOUTHERN MISS. Southern Miss’s only loss is a blowout at Louisville. They’re at home tonight against a semi-decent Morehead team.

-MIAMI FL AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Both teams need notable wins.

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Highlighted Games for Tuesday, Dec 3rd

Posted on December 3, 2013 by David Griggs

-MICHIGAN AT DUKE (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Duke hasn’t managed a big win yet, and Michigan has some good wins, but none that would likely turn out to be as big as this. It’s a great early season test for both teams.

-NOTRE DAME AT IOWA (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). This is about as untraditional as a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game an be, but it’s a great match-up. Notre Dame has not looked that good this year and could really use a notable win. Iowa played well the Battle 4 Atlantis, but the rest of their OOC schedule is kind of weak, so picking up another notable win would really help them out as well.

– BELMONT AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Belmont is 6-2 with no bad losses and a win at UNC. They’re in good shape, but the problem is their schedule will become watered down once conference play begins. Middle Tennessee isn’t a solid tournament team by any means, but they are 6-1, they do play well at home, and it’s a win that Belmont would get some credit for if they pull this off. It wouldn’t’ be a bad win for MTSU either.

-FLORIDA STATE AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge).  Both of these teams have looked good early.  Florida State has a nice win against VCU, and barely missed getting additional big wins against Michigan and Florida, all away from home.  Minney has a decent win at Richmond, but could definitely use another.  I expect both teams to have bigger years than what was originally expected.

-BOISE STATE AT UTAH. Both teams are unbeaten. Whether either of them are any good has yet to be determined.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT UCLA. UCSB’s big win at UNLV isn’t looking so big anymore. They’re still a formidable big West team and they don’t have any terrible losses yet. Their next three games are against good teams, so if they can pull off some big wins and run through the Big West they may be on the fringe of the bubble.

-UMASS AT EASTERN MICHIGAN. Eastern Michigan’s only loss came at Kentucky in a game where they put up a fight for about thirty minutes. Whether or not they can continue to win is yet to be determined. UMass is unbeaten on the season. This may be one of those games that’s more difficult for UMass than what many realize.

-USC UPSTATE AT CINCINNATI. This is a buy game, but USC Upstate has been the most impressive team in the A-Sun so far, so it’s worth mentioning. A win for Cincinnati gets them to 7-0.

-NCCU AT OLD DOMINION. I don’t know if this is worth getting excited over or not, but NCCU is 5-1 on the year with a win at NC State under their belts. Therefore, they are on our radar. For now.

-INDIANA VS SYRACUSE (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Indiana is 6-1 and is coming off a decisive win against Evansville, but they still don’t have a big win just yet. Syracuse just won the Maui Invitational and is off to a great start.

-ILLINOIS AT GEORGIA TECH (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Illinois is 7-0, but they haven’t managed a whole lot of quality yet. Georgia Tech is hardly solid, but this is probably Illinois’s toughest test so far.

-PENN STATE AT PITTSBURGH (Big Ten vs ACC Challenge). Penn State is 6-2 and although they haven’t faced any strong tests yet, they did win on a neutral floor against Saint John’s and took Ole Miss to the wall. Pitt is unbeaten. Both teams have good records, but they need some good wins.

-COLORADO AT COLORADO STATE (Front Range). Both teams have good records, and Colorado has a nice home win against Harvard, but both are somewhat lacking in quality wins. This is always a fun rivalry, especially since both teams have been NCAA Tournament caliber teams in recent years.

-TEXAS TECH AT ARIZONA. This isn’t a buy game, but it may as well be.

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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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