-SYRACUSE AT SOUTH FLORIDA (Big East). South Florida has a decent record, but to prove to the committee that they’re a good team they need notable wins. Playing a team like Syracuse at home is a big opportunity. As far as Syracuse is concerned, if they want to earn a high seed, they need to win road games like this one.
-IOWA AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). Iowa racked up a big record out of conference, but they did it against predominantly weak teams. They played Indiana tough at home last week, but came up short. Today’s test at Michigan is even tougher. Having said that, Iowa needs to prove themselves, but losing back to back games against top ten teams isn’t going to hurt them. They will need good wins at some point if they want to dance, though.
-TEMPLE AT KANSAS. An out of conference resume game against two likely tournament teams. If Temple could pull off the win, it would really boost their seed, but a loss won’t really hurt them.
-WISCONSIN AT NEBRASKA. Wiscy could use a road win on their profile, and if they want to establish themselves as a tournament team they need to win games like this away from home. It isn’t going to be easy, but it is one of the more winnable conference road games.
-WICHITA STATE AT BRADLEY (Missouri Valley). Bradley has just one home loss so far, and it was to Michigan. They’re 10-4 and although their profile doesn’t resemble a tournament team now, it will if they can win games like this and avoid bad losses. Wichita is playing for a protected seed, and if this is the kind of game they need to win in order to get it.
-NORTHWESTERN AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Minney hasn’t lost since playing Duke back in November, and they aren’t likely to lose today.
-COLORADO AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve). Arizona State has a good record, but no good wins at all. This would be their best win of the year by far if they pull it off. Colorado is coming off a heartbreaking and somewhat controversial loss at Arizona and could use a notable road win. So far, they have only one true road win and they’ll need to pick up some more.
-OREGON AT OREGON STATE (Pac Twelve). It’s a rivalry game. It’s a conference game. It’s two teams with good records that need notable wins, and this could potentially be one. It should be fun.
Griggs