Welcome to the slowest week of the College Hoops season! 

Yesterday brought us a handle of blowouts and some really exciting mid-major action! 

Sunday Takeaways:

Michigan, Iowa State, Alabama, Tennessee Florida, Baylor, South Florida, Saint Louis, Texas A&M, TCU, Miami and Minnesota all won buy games handily. 

Nebraska also won big, but actually trailed North Dakota at the half before pulling away to win by 23. 

Vanderbilt beat Wake Forest on the road 98-67. Vanderbilt is officially on my national radar and a team more should be paying attention to! 

Gonzaga beat Oregon in Portland by 9. Gonzaga continues to roll; Oregon looks better, but can they catch up from the early hole they’re in? 

UConn handled DePaul 72-54!

Charleston used their physicality to beat Northern Kentucky on the road today and get > .500 on the year! 

Pittsburgh absolutely dominated Penn State, winning 80-46. Just when Penn State shows some progress, they fail flat again. 

NC State picked up a solid win over Ole Miss to wrap their Non-conference slate up. The Wolfpack have been a bit disappointing, but are finding their groove heading into ACC play! 

Murray State and Bradley both pick up solid wins to go to 2-0 in MVC play. 

SMU allowed Central Arkansas to hang around before putting them away to win by 17. 

In the Upset of the day: Purdue Fort Wayne beat Notre Dame in South Bend, 72-69! 

Oklahoma State survived an upset scare from Cal State Fullerton, winning by 5. 

Cincinnati fell to Clemson in Greenville after a horrendous 1st half from the Bearcats. The second half showed signs of life though! 

New Mexico State beat Sam Houston by 9 to get to 1-0 in C-USA. 

The Sun Bowl Invitational delivered two great games, with UC Irvine beating North Dakota State by 1, and Norfolk State beating UTEP by 1. 

Finally, Idaho beat Cal Poly in OT. 

Monday’s Games to watch: 

Watchability index breakdown:

5️⃣ Must-Watch
National-impact game; typically Q1 vs. Q1.

4️⃣ High-Level Matchup
Strong game with postseason or résumé relevance.

3️⃣ Notable/Competitive
High quality mid-major matchup and/or decent high-major game

2️⃣ Worth Monitoring
Intrigue, rivalry angle, or stylistic fun; Typically the solid mid-major matchups will go here.

1️⃣ Minimal Impact
Not a major bracket game, but includes a fun storyline or a mid/low major game of interest

Games:

2️⃣ Georgia, Butler, Tulsa, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Georgetown, LSU, Florida State, West Virginia, Syracuse, VCU, Boston College, North Carolina, Kansas, Wisconsin, Memphis, Grand Canyon, Texas, Creighton, Arizona, BYU, Oklahoma, and Washington are all playing buy games tonight. 

1️⃣ Sacred Heart @ Towson | 2:00, FLOsports 

There are several games early today, this is likely the most intriguing, but still not necessarily one I expect to see Towson struggle with. 

2️⃣ Seattle @ UTSA | 3:00, ESPNO+

This is a really odd matchup, but i love it. These two teams playing is relatively random, but a good matchup nonetheless. Seattle has been solid to start the year and is favored by 8.5. 

2️⃣ SIU Edwardsville @ Western Illinois | 4:30, ESPN+ 

A little afternoon OVC Action?! Yes please! This one should be really fun to watch, and I believe SIUE will get their first OVC win of the year! 

1️⃣ Abilene Christian @ Texas Southern | 5:00, YouTube 

While Texas Southern is 1-8, they’ve played a hell of a schedule, and are a bit of a unknown. Today will be a really intriguing matchup between these two, and I think Texas Southern gets their first DI win of the year! 

2️⃣ Portland @ UC Santa Barbara | 5:00, ESPN+ 

Mid-major west coast action rarely disappoints, and I’d expect this one to be a fun one. UCSB is favored by 8, but the over/under is 151, so there should be plenty of points! 

1️⃣ North Dakota State vs. UTEP | 7:00

This is the consolation game for the Sun Bowl Invitational. Expect the Bison to roll here. 

3️⃣ Eastern Michigan @ Wright State | 7:00, ESPN+

Can the Raiders get back in the win column? Eastern Michigan isn’t a pushover. This one will be fun in the Nutter Center! 

 1️⃣ Northeastern @ Rhode Island | 7:00, ESPN+

Per usual, I gotta give some love to regional rivalries. Expect URI to win this, but it may be pretty close! 

5️⃣ Missouri vs. Illinois | 8:00, FS1 | St. Louis

In a MASSIVE rivalry matchup, Illinois is favored by 8.5 in St. Louis tonight. This is clearly the game of the night and should be a really exciting matchup with a ton of points. I’m very high on Illinois this year, so I’ll take them, but someone’s leaving with a Q1 win tonight! 

 1️⃣ UT Arlington @ Oral Roberts | 8:00

This isa. really fun mid-major matchup, I like UT Arlington to pull the W out in a game that likely will be a rock fight. 

3️⃣ UC Irvine vs. Norfolk State | 9:00 | El Paso

In the championship of the Sun Bowl Invitational, I like UC Irvine to win pretty handily here. 

3️⃣ Northern Iowa @ Saint Mary’s | 10:00, ESPN+

In what will absolutely be an ugly game (total 131.5 right now), I think Saint Mary’s wins, but they’re favored by 12.5 and that feels like a lot of points. However, I have quit doubting the Gaels this year. 

Tonight is a solid slate as we move into the much lighter rest of the week. I’ll have your Tuesday preview tomorrow before a break after that for the holiday!