Puppet Ramblings and Highlighted Games for Monday, Dec 8th

PUPPET RAMBLINGS

-Check out or weekly Bracket Racket Podcast tonight.  We normally due it on Sunday, but due to “circumstances beyond our control” we were unable to record last night.  That’s what we say when the circumstances definitely WERE within our control, but that we just failed to control them.  The former sounds better than the latter.

-A new bracket should also be posted some time tonight.

-Gonzaga looked impressive at Arizona despite the loss.  A win would have meant one of the most impressive road wins that anyone is likely to manage this season.  A competitive loss doesn’t help their profile, but it does absolutely nothing to hurt it.  Despite the loss, I’m still actually more impressed with the Zags now than I was before.

-In case you missed it, our adopted team NJIT won what was arguably the biggest game in the history of their program when they went on the road and upset Michigan on Saturday.  It was one of the more surprising results and upsets that I’ve seen in a long time.

-I didn’t think this was possible just a few short weeks ago, but Saint John’s appears to be for real.  Their only loss was to a very good Gonzaga team, and they’ve managed wins against Minnesota and on the road against Syracuse.

-Kentucky had an underwhelming offensive performance, and as a result only managed to beat #6th ranked Texas by double digits.  That’s how good Kentucky is.  They can have an off night, and only win by double digits against a top ten team.

-The Big South has now managed wins against Clemson, Clemson again, Virginia Tech, Auburn and Ole Miss.  The league still doesn’t appear to have anyone that’s close to the bubble, but it’s a good showing for a conference that rarely does better than a #16 seed.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-IPFW AT PURDUE.  It’s a buy game, but it’s an interesting one.  An in state match up between one of the best teams in the Summit League, and a Purdue team that is 6-2, but doesn’t have any huge wins yet.

-YALE AT FLORIDA.  Yale took down UConn over the weekend, and may be the most impressive team in the Ivy League right now.  If they can pull off another upset tonight, they’re not just inside the bubble.  They’re WAAY inside it.

-BOSTON U AT HARVARD.  Harvard has just one loss on the year and shouldn’t have too much trouble against their crosstown rival.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT SMU.  Both teams have been somewhat disappointing so far, but both could still turn it around and have big years.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT MIAMI FL.  Buy game

-KENNESAY STATE AT BUTLER.  Buy game

-NORTH DAKOTA AT MINNESOTA.  Buy game.

-BROWN AT PROVIDENCE.  Buy game.

-INCARNATE WORD AT UTEP.  SEE HERE in Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day