Under the Radar Game of the Day – Monday, February 23, 2015: Alabama State at Southern

Alabama State at Southern, 9:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU

Alabama State enters play today at 11-2 in the SWAC (15-7 overall), tied for first place with Texas Southern.  Southern University is currently 11-3 in the SWAC (14-14 overall), half a game out.  Normally, a matchup of two teams within half a game of each other in conference standings this late in the season would be not only the UTR Game of the Day, but might get some national attention.  It would definitely be a game we would be discussing for its postseason implications.  That is not the case tonight, however.  Both the Alabama State Hornets and the Southern University Jaguars are ineligible for postseason play due to APR issues (in Southern’s case, the school is still in the process of recovering from having had completely unusable APR data for a several year span).  This means that regardless of which team wins tonight, or which teams wins the conference regular season title, Texas Southern will still be the odds on favorite to represent the SWAC inn the NCAA tournament.

All this having been said, there are some postseason implications for tonight’s game.  First, the SWAC will allow both the Hornets and the Jaguars to participate in the conference tournament.  Should either team win it, the loser of the championship game will earn the automatic bid.  Should both teams play each other in the title game, the higher seeded of the two semifinal losers will get the bid (thus giving Texas Southern a huge advantage as the top eligible seed even if they fail to win the tournament).  In addition, should Texas Southern not capture the automatic bid out of the SWAC, the conference would forfeit an automatic bid to the NIT if either ineligible team ends up in first place in the regular season standings.  This means that Texas Southern will certainly be rooting for Southern U tonight.  These minor postseason implications are enough to earn this game, despite the APR postseason bans, the title of UTR Game of the Day.  Oh, and it should be a good game as well — Alabama State won the first matchup earlier this season in overtime.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-LOUISVILLE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC).  Louisville won a close one over the weekend, but shortly afterward dismissed Chris Jones from the team.  It is very important that Louisville show the committee that they’re able to win without him.  Losing on the road to what appears to be a sub-NIT Georgia Tech team would not be good.

-XAVIER AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  Saint John’s won the previous meeting at Xavier and is in a stretch where they’ve won four out of five.  Xavier is also coming off of two big wins, so both teams come in with a lot of momentum.  They’re also right next to each other in the standings, so it’s a good opportunity for both.

-KANSAS AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve).  It’s not easy to win rivalry games on the road, even if you’re a #2 seed playing against a team that will be lucky to make the NIT.  But, it’s still the kind of game you would expect a #2 seeded team to be able to win.