News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Feb 2nd

NEWS AND NOTES

-For the latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between Louisiana Monroe and Louisiana Lafayette – CLICK HERE

-Monmouth, who we believe to be safely inside the bubble despite some questionable losses, picked up another impressive road win at Siena last night.  Siena is not a tournament team, but they were also a team that had not lost at home prior to last night, and the committee should recognize that.  Monmouth has now won an amazing ten true road games, which includes at Georgetown, at UCLA, at Iona (who’s only home loss is to Monmouth) and now at Siena (who’s only home loss is to Monmouth).

-North Carolina still hasn’t beaten a top 25 team on the road.  For that matter, they haven’t beaten a team on the road that’s likely to be wearing white in the round of 64.  Last night, they fell at Louisville.  I still think UNC will ultimately end up on the #1 line, but they need to beat at least one ranked team on the road before the end of the year.

-Texas is one of the most improved teams of the season if you look at them early in the year and look at them now.  They got a huge conference rivalry road win at Baylor last night.  That’s always an emotional game, and last night wasn’t any different.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KENTUCKY AT TENNESSEE (SEC).  Kentucky is coming off one of their most impressive efforts of the season despite the loss.  Tennessee isn’t a tournament team, but they are tough to beat at home, so the Wildcats need to rebound quickly from the overtime heartbreaker at Kansas.

-LSU AT AUBURN (SEC).  LSU just missed a chance to pick up a huge quality win against top ranked Oklahoma this weekend, and they still have a ton of work to do just to get themselves into the discussion.  Auburn is a mile from being inside the bubble, but they are at least capable of competing against good teams at home.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT GEORGIA (SEC).  South Carolina continues to rack up win after win after win, and can add to their road win total against a Georgia team that’s been rather solid at home this year.

-GEORGETOWN AT BUTLER (Big East).  Right now, Butler appears to be just inside the bubble, whereas Georgetown is just out, but having said that the teams are going in drastically different directions.  Georgetown has been playing well lately and has picked up some big wins, whereas Butler has dropped several to teams that don’t appear to be tournament teams.  Both teams really need this one.

-TCU AT OKLAHOMA (Big Twelve).  This is perhaps Oklahoma’s most winnable remaining game.  They shouldn’t have any trouble at all.

-VIRGINIA TECH AT SYRACUSE (ACC).  Syracuse has played their way inside of our bubble, and they should be safe so long as they hold serve in games like this and pick up another notable win or two.  The problem is that you just never know what Syracuse is going to do.

-CLEMSON AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  Clemson has been playing tons better these past two weeks, but they still have a lot of work to do to make up for a weak OOC schedule and some questionable losses.  The other thing that they’re lacking in is road wins.  This is a winnable road game that they need to pick up.

-WYOMING AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West, Front Range).  This game has no NCAA Tournament implications whatsoever.  We just love the Front Range!

-WEST VIRGINIA AT IOWA STATE (Big Twelve).  West Virginia is in the midst of a very tough road stretch.  We feel that both these teams are protected seeds so this would be a high caliber win for whoever pulls it off.

-INDIANA AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten).  Both teams have bloated records, but both teams need more wins against teams that are actually good than what they have, so this is a chance for both of them to pick up a needed quality win.

-DUKE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC).  I still think Duke is safe as far as making the field goes, but they wont’ be if they can’t hold serve against non tournament teams in games like this.

-PROVIDENCE AT DEPAUL (Big East).  Providence has not lost a true road game all season and likely won’t lose tonight either.

-COLORADO STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West).  If San Diego State wins out, which they are good enough to do, I think they’ll land inside the bubble.

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