Hoops HD

-MICHIGAN AT PENN STATE (Big Ten). Michigan is one of the eight or nine teams in the race for a #1 seed.

-VIRGINIA TECH AT MIAMI, FL (ACC). Miami is one of the eight or nine teams that’s in contention for a #1 seed.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT TCU (Big Twelve). Okie State is looking more and more like a protected seed.

-GEORGETOWN AT UCONN (Big East). Georgetown is one of the eight or nine teams in the race for a #1 seed.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT PITTSBURGH (Big East). I like Pitt’s profile. There is some inconsistency on it but overall I’ve been impressed with them and think they are poised for a good seed if they can finish strong.

-AKRON AT OHIO (MAC). This is a huge game for Akron. This isn’t a great road win, but it is a decent one and that is the one glaring thing that is missing from Akron’s profile. If they win this, I like their chances for an at-large. If they lose, then I think they’ll really be sweating if they fail to win the MAC Tournament.

-DAYTON AT CHARLOTTE (Atlantic Ten). Charlotte is a bubble team with a small margin for error.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT KENTUCKY (SEC). I believe Kentucky is outside the bubble with virtually no margin for error.

-BAYLOR AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve). Baylor is another team that is outside the bubble and will have to finish strong to even be considered.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT NC STATE (ACC). NC State has been strong at home and is solidly in the field, but their lack of road wins will hurt them. Tonight’s win won’t help as much as a loss would badly hurt.

-MARYLAND AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC). Maryland is outside the bubble and will need a strong finish to end up inside of it.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT SAINT LOUIS (Atlantic Ten). I love how SLU has been playing, especially at home. I wouldn’t be surprised if they won out all the way through the Atlantic Ten Tournament and earned a very high seed.

-NEVADA AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West). Boise is outside the bubble and really cannot afford a loss like this.

-EVANSVILLE AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley). Wichita’s profile is safe, but they still have a lot of room to rise or fall in regards to their seed.

-SIUE AT BELMONT (Ohio Valley). I still like Belmont’s chances, but anything short of winning out to the OVC championship game may land them outside the field.

-CREIGHTON AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley). Creighton is relatively safe, but their profile isn’t the best. A road win, even a modest road win like this one, would help.

-PURDUE AT IOWA (Big Ten). Iowa is on the bubble, and their OOC schedule will not help them, so they need a strong finish. A loss at home to a non-tournament team would be a backbreaker. Perhaps even a neck-breaker.

-FRESNO STATE AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West). Colorado State has lost two straight, but neither were bad losses and they’re still in good shape. They’re also a potentially dangerous tournament team.

-OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS (Big Twelve). This wouldn’t be the most impressive road win, but it’s still a road win for the Sooners.

-LOUISVILLE AT DEPAUL (Big East). One never knows what Louisville is going to do. They should be able to win this one, though.

-ARIZONA AT USC (Pac Twelve). USC has improved as the season has gone on, and Arizona really needs to be on upset alert. They’re safely in the field, but when it comes to earning a good seed they cannot afford losses to non-tournament teams.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West). Another showcase game for the MWC. New Mexico is the frontrunner, and is also perhaps the best team and could end up as a protected seed.

-COLORADO AT STANFORD (Pac Twelve). I think Colorado is inside the bubble for now, and is a fairly good team, but winning this one on the road would help a lot.

-ARIZONA STATE AT UCLA (Pac Twelve). UCLA is safely in, but has room to improve. Arizona State is outside the bubble and could really use another notable road win.

Looking at tonight’s schedule, there is one game that clearly stands out as the Small Conference Game of the Day.  The Akron Zips are traveling on the road to take on the Ohio University Bobcats in a key battle at the top of the MAC East Division standings.  However, the SCGD doesn’t like to go with the obvious choice, and that is why we are instead going to be heading to the Southern Conference, where the two division leaders will be meeting in their only regular season contest against each other, Davidson at Elon, 7:00 PM Eastern.

Davidson enters tonight’s game at 21-7 overall and 15-1 in the SoCon.  Their only league loss was to Georgia Southern back on January 14.  In fact, that was the last game that Davidson lost this season.  They enter on a 12 game winning streak and fresh off an overtime BracketBuster victory over Big Sky leader Montana.  Elon, on the other hand, sits at 19-9 overall and 12-4 in conference.  They have won 11 of their last 13 games, though fell this past weekend on the road to Chattanooga.

Davidson features the nation’s top free throw shooter in Nik Cochran, who is converting over 95% from the charity stripe.  He also ranks 18th in the country in 3-point percentage at 47.7.  The Wildcats also have last year’s SoCon co-players of the year in Jake Cohen and De’Mon Brooks.  Cohen is averaging 15.0 points per game while Brooks is at 13.3.  Elon, on the other hand, is led by Lucas Troutman’s 14.9 per game and Jack Isenbarger’s 13.9.  Ryley Beaumont is the team’s top rebounder at 6.9 per game, while scoring 11.7 points per game.  While Davidson is on their way to the top seed in the SoCon tournament, this game may prove to be a preview of the conference tournament championship game.

Tonight’s game features the Youngstown State Penguins traveling to Indiana to take on the Valparaiso Crusaders as Valpo tries to lock up at least a tie for the Horizon League regular season title (8:00 PM Eastern).  Valpo enters the game with a 22-7 record, 11-3 in the Horizon.  They hold a one game lead over Detroit, who sits at 18-10 overall and 10-4 in their league.  Detroit is also in action tonight, hosting Loyola (Chicago), meaning that a combination of a Detroit loss and Valparaiso win would clinch the top spot in the conference outright for the Crusaders.

Youngstown State enters tonight’s game at 16-12 overall and 7-7 in conference, good enough for 5th place.  The Penguins dealt Valpo one of their 3 league losses earlier this year, an 80-68 win in Youngstown, Ohio back on January 30.  In the event the league title is not decided tonight, Valpo will finish their season this weekend with a trip to Green Bay while Detroit goes to Illinois-Chicago.  The Titans actually have three games scheduled this week, as they will also travel on the road to take on Temple Thursday night in a game rescheduled from December.

Sometimes teams come along that you just have to talk about.  No matter how many times they play, you just cannot avoid mentioning them again and again.  And although this is at least the third appearance for this team in the SCGD this season, there was just no way to avoid not featuring them once again.

Tonight’s SCGD comes from the Harrison Complex in Itta Bena, Mississippi, where the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils will be hosting the final road game of the year for the Grambling State Tigers (8:30 PM Eastern).  While MVSU enters the game at 4-22, and ranked by KenPom as the 340th out of 347 Division I teams, the point for tonight;s feature is once again Grambling State.  GSU now stands at 0-24 on the season.  Tonight marks the first of three games the Tigers will play this week, following tonight’s game with home contests against #338 Alabama A&M (Thursday night) and #335 Alabama State (Saturday).  These are also the final three regular season games for the Tigers, with only the SWAC tournament left after this week.

Entering tonight’s game, the #1 rated team at KenPom is Florida with a .9816.  The #2 team is Indiana at .9755.  No margin of more than one or two hundredths of a point exist between any two teams.  Coming in at #345 is Lamar with a .0489 and at #346 is New Orleans at .0469.  Between 346 and 347 is the largest gap in actual ratings of any two teams.  Grambling’s raw rating is .0044.  Similar results can be seen in the RPI, where the average difference between teams is 1 or 2 hundredths of a point, yet Grambling enters dead last with a .3113, well behind UNO’s .3495.

This week is Grambling’s last chance to find a regular season victory.  And even though they will be facing three of the worst teams in Division I this week, it will still be a monumental upset if they can win one.  The way they have played all season — it may be an upset if they just lose by single digits.

With the televised portions concluding yesterday, we have almost reached the end of the BracketBusters era.  However, a pair of the non-televised games are scheduled for today.  While neither game involves teams with serious NCAA tournament possibilities (absent a surprise run through their conference tournaments), these two games do mark the final and official end of BarcketBusters.  The first game is Radford at Siena (12:00 PM Eastern), but today’s SCGD will be the second and final game ever – South Dakota at Montana State (3:00 PM Eastern).

The South Dakota Coyotes are members of the Summit League.  They enter play today at 8-18 overall and 4-10 in the Summit, tied for 7th place with UMKC.  Their only win of any note whatsoever on the season was an early season victory over North Carolina Central, a team that has been at or near the top of the MEAC standings all season.

Montana State, on the other hand, sits at 10-14 overall and 7-9 in the Big Sky Conference.  That places them in a three way tie for 5th place, and only one game in the loss column ahead of the 8th and 9th place teams.  The significance here is that only the top 7 teams in the Big Sky will qualify for their conference tournament.  With four conference games left after today, the Bobcats still have work to do to stay among those top 7.

South Dakota is led offensively by Juevol Myles who is averaging 15.2 points per game, after transferring from Kansas State two years ago.  Montana State, on the other hand, has four players that average in double figures, led by Christian Moon’s 13.6 points per game.