News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Jan 8th

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-DUKE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  Duke is on pace to get a #1 seed and although they haven’t played a true road game yet, they’ve still been tested away from home.

-TENNESSEE AT MISSOURI (SEC).  If you use your imagination, Mizzou has some talent and could play their way into the NCAA Tournament picture if they’re able to pick up a few wins in games like this, but that is far easier said than done.  Tennessee is a #1 seed caliber team and this is the kind of road game you would expect them to win.

-TEXAS A&M AT KENTUCKY (SEC).  Kentucky suffered a somewhat surprising loss at Alabama over the weekend, but should be able to bounce back in a big way tonight against a TAMU team that just isn’t all that strong this year.

-TOLEDO AT BUFFALO (MAC).  Toledo looks to be one of the better teams in the conference, but they were smashed at home in their most recent conference game.  Buffalo should not only land inside the bubble, but land in the top half of the bracket if they hold serve the rest of the year.

-IOWA STATE AT BAYLOR (Big 12).  Iowa State smashed Kansas over the weekend, but we already knew that they were home court heroes.  The question is whether or not they can follow that up against what appears to be an NIT team on the road.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT VILLANOVA.  The Johnnies are ranked in the top 25 for the first time since I can remember, and have certainly earned it.  They have another big road test tonight against a Villanova team that’s had their issues, but that also seems to be getting better.  It’s two probable tournament teams looking for a quality win.

-MARYLAND AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten).  These are two probable tournament teams that have room for improvement, and a win tonight would certainly help either team.

-TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12).  Texas has been inconsistent for most of the season and while they have some big wins, they’ve also tripped over themselves a couple of times.  It’s important that they hold serve tonight and pick up what should be a winnable road game.

-PURDUE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Michigan State has really flexed their muscles this season and is coming off what may be their singular biggest win of the year so far, which was on the road at Ohio State.  They face a Purdue team that appears to be really good, but who’s profile could really use some updating.  If the Boilers are able to win tonight, it completely changes the complexion of their resume, and catapults it through the roof.

-OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  Both teams are good, and both have been tested in the sense that Oklahoma played really well in a losing effort at Kansas, and Texas Tech played really well in a losing effort against Duke, but neither team really has a huge win on their resume yet, and it could be argued that this would be the biggest win of the season for either team up to this point for whoever ends up winning it.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT NC STATE (ACC).  This one should be fun!!  These two teams hate each other, and with NC State being at home and having a ton of momentum it should be a really intense atmosphere.  Both teams are likely tournament teams, and this would certainly be a quality win both on and off paper for whoever pulls it off.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC).  Mississippi State should cruise through this one and improve to 13-1 on the year.

-ALABAMA AT LSU (SEC).  Both teams are good, and Alabama is coming off a feel good win against Kentucky, but both also have room to grow their resume and tonight is a chance for them to do that.

-AIR FORCE AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West, Front Range).  We at Hoops HD Love the Front Range!!!!!  Oh…forget it!!!  The Front Range SUCKS this year!!!  Watch another game!!

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