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Incarnate Word at Tulsa, 8:00 PM Eastern, espn3
When choosing the UTR Game of the Day, there are times when I have to resist one game in order to put up another. Tonight, the logical choice would have clearly been Northeastern’s cross-country road trip to take on the St. Mary’s Gaels, and for that reason I was supposed to resist what I am actually doing here and write about that game. However, there are times when a game is just so appetizing, I give in to temptation and write about it anyhow. So my apologies to Huskies and Gaels fans, but your game has taken the backseat tonight.
At 8:00 PM Eastern, the Southland Conference’s Incarnate Word Cardinals will be traveling up from San Antonio to visit a school located right on historic Route 66 (in fact I would recommend the Route 66 Diner right in the shadow of the football stadium for some good eats), Frank Haith’s Tulsa Golden Hurricane. UIW has been one of the surprising stories so far this year with an 8-1 record and a top 50 RPI, for whatever weight you give that rating this early in the year. Their lone loss came at UTEP, and their wins include a huge road upset over Nebraska. The Cardinals are coming off of a thrilling triple overtime win at UMKC over the weekend and are looking to keep their winning ways going tonight in Tulsa. The only drawback on the season for UIW is the fact that they are only in their second of four transitional years and therefore ineligible for the NCAA or NIT tournaments. However, the CBI or CIT could come calling, and if UIW keeps winning, there is no reason why one of those tournaments would not.
Tulsa has been the complete opposite of UIW so far this year. In a season where almost every key player from last year’s NCAA tournament team returned, we thought the Golden Hurricane had a chance to compete in a weakened AAC. Instead, new head coach Frank Haith has been continuing the fine work he previously did at Miami and Missouri, promptly turning a good team into a bad one. Tulsa opened the season with a loss to cross-town rival Oral Roberts and has gotten blown out by in-state rivals Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. To make things worse, the Golden Hurricane registered a three point loss to non-Division I Southeast Oklahoma State — a loss that simply should never happen to a team that believes it is in a major conference. That loss alone was enough to make Tulsa eligible for the UTR Game of the Day despite the AAC not technically being an Under the Radar conference. Regarding tonight’s game, it is tough to believe that a team that loses at home to Southeast Oklahoma State has much of a chance at home against a UIW team that has proven it can win on the road — but a win by the Golden Hurricane would not be totally crazy. In any event, if Tulsa wants to turn their season around before conference play starts next week, a win tonight may be mandatory.