Below is a quick rundown of all of tonight’s college hoops action.
NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-I do not mean for this to sound like faint praise. I’d like to congratulate the Fordham Rams and first year coach Jeff Neubauer on their seventh win in a row last night. If I heard it right during the broadcast, it is their longest winning streak in over forty years. I realize that they’ve played weaker opponents, and that they have a long way to go before they’re considered an NCAA Tournament caliber program, but for the first time in my lifetime Fordham appears to be going in the right direction, and they have a fantastic new head coach.
-The highlighted games last night weren’t nearly as exciting. West Virginia had a fantastic first 18 minutes, and Virginia had an even more amazing final 22 minutes to win the game going away. After being thoroughly amazed at how well West Virginia was doing against Virginia’s defense, I was doubly amazed at how UVA adjusted and shut down the Mountaineers after that. They said during the broadcast these two will now be playing home and home. And to that I say……IT’S ABOUT FREAKIN’ TIME!!!!!
-Maryland sprinted ahead of UConn, and UConn did their best to try and sprint back, but came up short. UConn is a good team, but they really don’t have a signature win yet.
-Michigan was blasted by the ineligible SMU Mustangs. Michigan might be in trouble. It’s not that they won’t have the chances to build up their paper. It’s that they may not have a good enough team to take advantage of their chances to build up their paper.
-Gonzaga struggled to put away Montana, and that was sort of a head scratcher. Gonzaga has looked good at times, but they can’t seem to look like a top ten caliber team for an entire 40 minutes. Could we be overrating them?? Given my track record in the past of looking at them as a Final Four caliber team more times than I’d like to remember, and having them come up short, the answer to that question is probably…….probably.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-BOSTON COLLEGE AT PROVIDENCE. This isn’t a buy game, but it’ll probably end up looking like one.
-HOFSTRA AT SIENA. Hofstra is a very respectable 6-2, and although Siena probably isn’t a team that’ll land inside the bubble, they are tough to beat at home so Hofstra should get some credit for the win if they pull it off.
-VALPARAISO AT INDIANA STATE. Valpo has a profile that’s good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, but they’ll have to come close to winning out in order to sustain it.
-NEBRASKA AT CREIGHTON. This is a rivalry between two teams with records that are decent, but not great, and that have a ton of work to do if they want the committee to be looking at them in March.
-YALE AT ILLINOIS. Illinois has a lot of catching up to do, and if they don’t start doing it soon they may end up so far behind that they’re unable to catch up.
-FRESNO STATE AT ARIZONA. Fresno State has a decent record and is much improved, but they’re probably in over their heads against an Arizona team that’s coming off a hugely impressive win at Gonzaga.
-UTAH STATE AT BYU. This is a big rivalry game between two teams who desperately need a big win right now.
-UNLV AT WICHITA STATE. UNLV is off to a great start and already has some quality wins in the bank. Wichita State should be solid once they get back to full strength, but they have a ton of work to do in order to play their way back into a position where the selection committee will look at them.
-DAYTON AT VANDERBILT. Vandy is really strong and could contend for a protected seed. Dayton is looking like a team that will land inside the bubble, and this would be a fantastic win for their profile if they’re able to pull it off.
-MILWAUKEE AT WISCONSIN. Wisconsin is playing much better now and shouldn’t have too much trouble improving to 7-3.
BUY GAMES
-Howard @ Purdue. Howard is a good MEAC team, but this is a tall order
-Eastern Kentucky @ Kentucky
-IPFW @ Indiana
-UMES @ Michigan State
-Coppin State @ Kansas State
-Holy Cross @ Kansas
-SIUE @ Southern Illinois
-Eastern Washington @ Davidson
-Incarnate Word @ California