Under the Radar Game of the Day – Friday, January 23, 2015: Niagara at Monmouth

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Chad

For our latest Bracket Rundown podcast, CLICK HERE.

Niagara at Monmouth, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3

With only six games on the Division I slate tonight, choosing the UTR Game of the Day looks fairly simple.  A look at the schedule shows that Valparaiso will be at Green Bay in a battle for the top spot in the Horizon League between two teams that may still have at-large big aspirations should they need one.  However, instead of heading to Green Bay, we have chosen to go to West Long Branch, New Jersey for the Metro Atlantic contest between Niagara and Monmouth.  And by heading to West Long Branch, I mean that literally.  In honor of our colleague, Lee Delveccio, and his love of MAAC basketball, I will be in attendance tonight as the Hawks take on the visiting Purple Eagles.

Niagara enters tonight’s game as the second worst team in the MAAC behind only Marist.  The Purple Eagles are 3-15 overall on the season, and 2-6 in conference play.  They looked like they might be a surprise team back in November when they pulled off an early conference victory at St. Peter’s, but have only picked up a pair of home victories (Albany and Manhattan) since then.  Their losses include a home loss to Penn last week and a pair of losses to Siena already as well.  Tonight, the Purple Eagles will look to avenge a 66-50 home loss to Monmouth that occurred back on January 4.  We will be keeping an eye on Emile Blackmon, who scored 21 points in his team’s last game, and Ramone Snowden, who has hit double-digits in scoring each of his last five times out.

The Hawks have had a better season than Niagara by far, sitting at 10-9 overall and 6-2 in conference play.  They are in the middle of a stretch of three games in six days as they won at Penn in a non-conference tilt Wednesday night and will be traveling to Manhattan on Sunday.  The Hawks most significant win of the season came back on December 7 when they defeated conference favorite Iona at home.  They also played a very strong home game against Rutgers, falling by only one point.  A win tonight would improve them to 7-2 in MAAC play and tie the Hawks for first place with Iona.  We will be paying particular attention to Deon Jones and Justin Robinson, the top two scoring threats for Monmouth.  If they play well there is no reason why the Hawks will not pick up the home victory and keep the pressure on Iona as we move towards the end of January.

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Bracket Rundown: January 22nd

Posted on January 23, 2015 by David Griggs

Tonight, Joby does his best to act as referee as David and Chad work together (sort of) to hash out another seed list.  We start off tonight with David, who through the encouragement of his Hoops HD colleagues, has decided to apply to be a guest reporter for the ACC Digital Network.  We plan on submitting this to the ACC, and we eagerly await their response.  After that, they jump right in to it and explain what the actual selection has been doing all season up to this point, and then they begin to go through all the teams that made it into the most recent Hoops HD Bracket Projections.

To see the final bracket – CLICK HERE

And for all you radio lovers, there is an mp3 version of the show posted below

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Highlighted Games for Thursday, Jan 22nd

Posted on January 22, 2015 by David Griggs

For our latest Under the Radar Podcast – CLICK HERE

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

 

TONIGHT’S HIGHLIGHTED ACTION

-SAINT MARY’S AT GONZAGA (West Coast) (***Spotlight Game***).  We shine the spotlight on this one because it features a conference rivalry between a team that looks to be a potential #1 seed, and a bubble team that can kick down the door as far as putting a quality win on their resume and solidifying themselves as an NCAA Tournament caliber team.  It’s a rivalry, and a high stakes game.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT TEMPLE (American).  It’s slipping away for Temple, after what appeared to be a promising start to the season.  They cannot afford to lose home games to non-NIT teams.

-UCF AT UCONN (American).  Same as above.  UConn is on the outside looking in as it is, so a loss tonight would really kill them.

-NOTRE DAME AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Notre Dame is now ranked 8th in the country, and has another winnable road game tonight.

-DEPAUL AT SETON HALL (Big East).  There aren’t many easy games in the Big East, but Seton Hall shouldn’t have too much trouble with DePaul at home.

-XAVIER AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Xavier needs road wins.  Period.  Providence is a team that looks to be inside the bubble, and beating them on the road won’t be easy, but right now Xavier has no wins away from home of any note, and if they don’t get any between now and the end of the season they will not make the field.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT FORDHAM (Atlantic Ten).  I like this GW team and don’t expect them to have any trouble picking up a conference road win tonight.

-OHIO STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten).  This may be a tricky road game for the Buckeyes, who have a decent but not great profile.  As of now they have just one true road win, so they don’t want to fall to a Northwestern team that will likely miss the postseason.

-ALABAMA AT ARKANSAS (SEC).  Alabama is outside the bubble, and has struggled on the road.  If they want to get into the discussion then this is the kind of game that they’ll need to win.

-GEORGIA TECH AT VIRGINIA (ACC).  Virginia is unbeaten, looking like a #1 seed, and could even end up being the top #1 seed.  They shouldn’t have too much trouble at home against a Georgia Tech team that struggles on the road.

-NC STATE AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  I like this Miami team more than this NC State team, but both have a shot at making the NCAAs.  Both are also very inconsistent.  NC State has looked good in their last four games, and this is the kind of road win that would look good on their profile.

-OLD DOMINION AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE (Conference USA).  Middle Tennessee isn’t the easiest place to win, but ODU has a very strong team and if they’re a solid NCAA team this is the kind of road game they need to be expected to win the majority of the time.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT NORTH TEXAS (Conference USA).  If LA Tech wins out, they got a shot.

-UTEP AT WESTERN KENTUCKY (Conference USA).  We believe both teams are currently outside the bubble.  In fact, we don’t believe the are all that close to the bubble.  But, with how they’ve been playing lately, and WKU in particular, we do think the door is open for them to play their way into the discussion, but they would pretty much have to win out to do it, and that means winning tonight.

-ARIZONA AT STANFORD (Pac Twelve).  This is a tough road game for Arizona.  Arizona is easily a protected seed, and Stanford is a team that is very much in the picture and who can further solidify that with signature wins.

-UCLA AT OREGON STATE (Pac Twelve).  UCLA has looked better after a midseason collapse, but they still have a lot of work to do.  This is a big week for them.  If they pick up these two road wins it’ll go a long way toward getting them back in the hunt.

-MARYLAND AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  Two surprise teams, at least in my book, out of the Big Ten.  Both are in the rankings, and both are very much in the NCAA picture.

-WASHINGTON AT COLORADO (Pac Twelve).  There needs to be a huge sense of urgency for this Washington team.  They need conference road wins.  Really, they need wins of any kind.

 

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, January 22, 2015: UC-Davis at Hawai’i

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Chad

For our latest Under the Radar podcast, CLICK HERE.

UC-Davis at Hawai’i, Midnight Eastern, OC Sports/free streaming at bigwest.tv

The UTR Game of the Day heads west tonight . . . very far west.  We are escaping the snowy east coast and visiting Honolulu for a matchup of two of the top teams in the Big West conference, UC-Davis and Hawai’i.  The UC-Davis Aggies have been one of the biggest surprises in early conference play, sitting at 4-0 in the Big West and 14-3 overall.  They have already picked up a win over Long Beach State, a team we thought capable of running away with the Big West this season after the 49ers toughed out one of the most difficult non-conference schedules we have seen in recent history.  The Aggies did the exact opposite, failing to challenge themselves much before conference play started, but at least building up the wins.  This has led Davis to 14 wins already, tieing the school’s highest win total since moving up to Division I just over ten years ago.  Tonight, in Hawai’i, they go for the school record.

The Rainbow Warriors will be looking to bounce back after struggling out to a 1-2 start in Big West play.  They were surprisingly good out of conference, building a 12-4 record there.  This included wins over Pittsburgh, Colorado and Nebraska.  Hawai’i appeared to be in trouble heading into the season as the program was under NCAA investigation and their head coach was relieved of his duties on the eve of the start of practices.  Benji Taylor moved up from his assistant position and has done a truly remarkable job keeping the team together and playing solid basketball during a season that could have been a complete disaster.  He will try to lead his team to a win over UC-Davis tonight and keep the ‘bows right in contention as we move through the conference season.

 

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Under the Radar: January 21st

Posted on January 21, 2015 by David Griggs

This weekend, Chad and David lead off with what as an improbable first half between Baylor and NAIA member Huston Tillotson.  They also talk about the news and notes in Conference USA with Southern Miss getting a postseason ban, and the upcoming meetings that will determine whether or not UAB will be allowed to stay in the conference.  After that, they run through all 23 of the Under the Radar conferences and discuss who the major players are, followed by the weekly UTR Top Ten.

 

And for all you radio lovers, below is an mp3 version of the show….

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Highlighted Games for Wednesday, Jan 21st

Posted on January 21, 2015 by David Griggs

For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-NORTH CAROLINA AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  I get the impression that UNC is improving as the year goes on.  They take on a Tobacco Road rival tonight that has struggled so far.

-HOUSTON AT CINCINNATI (American).  Cincinnati seems to be very much on the bubble right now, and every game has a pivotal feel to it.

-MEMPHIS AT TULSA (American).  I’m open to the idea that one or more of these teams could end up on the bubble, but am thinking that there’s a much better chance of this being an NIT preview.

-MARQUETTE AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  My God the Jonnies need this one.  They are just 1-4 in league play and have some major catching up to do.

-PENN STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Michigan State appears to be inside the bubble, but is closer to it than what we’re normally used to seeing so they don’t want to have slipups in games like this.

-MISSOURI AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  I don’t know why anyone would have TAMU in the discussion, but a few do and I guess that means we have to pay attention to them.  If they lose tonight, they won’t be, though.

-INDIANA STATE AT NORTHERN IOWA (Missouri Valley).  I see Northern Iowa as being a first ballot team, and don’t think they’ll have too much trouble at home tonight.

-EVANSVILLE AT LOYOLA IL (Missouri Valley).  Both teams are currently way outside the bubble and they need to basically win out or come close to it if they want to have any hopes of making it.

-WICHITA STATE AT MISSOURI STATE (Missouri Valley).  Wichita State is still the best team in the conference and may even end up as a protected seed if they can run away from the rest of the league.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT UTAH (Pac Twelve).  I know Utah lost decisively to Arizona over the weekend, but I still really like this team and don’t think they’ll have too much trouble against a very much improved, but still awful, Wazzu team.

-TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big Twelve).  There aren’t many easy games in this league, but this is probably one of the easier ones for Oklahoma State.

-SMU AT TULANE (American).  Interesting game here as SMU continues to improve, despite recent allegations (and we’ll see how that plays in) as they travel to a Tulane team that is better, but still has a long way to go.

-CREIGHTON AT BUTLER (Big East).  Butler is coming off a rough road loss to Georgetown, but I still like this team and think they’ll pick up another conference win tonight against a Creighton team that is 0-6 in league play.

-PURDUE AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  The Illini need to have a sense of urgency to them.  They’re pretty good, but inconsistent and they cannot afford to lose at home to teams that are not in the picture.

-NEW MEXICO AT UNLV (Mountain West).  Neither team has done anything close to what they need to do on paper to make the field, but it still feels like this should be a big game…right??

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