News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Dec 31st

Below is a rundown of today’s college basketball action…

NEWS AND NOTES

-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE   We Discussed last night how we feel that there are several teams in the Colonial that could end up in position to get an at-large bid if they can run away from the league, but that there is probably only room for the first place finisher.  You’ll see that noted in the Highlighted Games below.  

-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-Severe weather continues to lead to games being postponed or cancelled due to hazardous travel.  Hampton v Texas Southern has been cancelled for today.

-I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years!!

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-XAVIER AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  We’ve been projecting Xavier as a #1 seed.  #1 seeds typically need to pick up at least one road win against a protected seed.  Nova hasn’t been quite as good as expected, but this is still Xavier’s biggest test of the year seeing as how Nova is high in the rankings and unbeaten at home.  It’s also the conference opener for both teams.

-CHARLESTON AT JAMES MADISON (Colonial).  Neither team was outstanding out of conference, but both were solid and we think if one of these teams can run away from the rest of the league they can land inside the bubble.

-DELAWARE AT HOFSTRA (Colonial).  As mentioned above, Hofstra is one of the teams that could end up inside the bubble, but they’ll have to run away from the league to do it.

-TOWSON AT WILLIAM & MARY (Colonial).  W&M is another Colonial team that could land inside the bubble if they can run away from the league.

-NORTHEASTERN AT ELON (Colonial).  Northeastern had a few big wins out of conference, but they weren’t as impressive as we were expecting.  Elon has been strong at home and this is the kind of game Northeastern needs to win moving forward if they want to be in the discussion at the end.

-DRAKE AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley).  Wichita State needs to blow through Missouri Valley play in order to be safely inside the bubble at the end of the year.

-PROVIDENCE AT BUTLER (Big East).  Both teams are highly ranked with just one loss, and both already have some impressive wins on their profile.  It wouldn’t surprise me if one or both ended up as protected seeds.  Winning a game like this on the road is the kind of win that makes you consider Providence for a #1 seed.  They have already beaten Arizona away from home, and their only loss was a close game against a full strength Michigan State team.  Adding a road win of this caliber to an already very impressive profile will go a long way toward #1 seed consideration.

-GONZAGA AT SANTA CLARA (West Coast).  Gonzaga’s profile is okay, but they have just one true road win on the season.  They’re expected to blow through this conference, and they’ll need to because they’ll be adding a damaging loss to their profile for virtually every league game they don’t win.

-BYU AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast).  Saint Mary’s will be somewhat tested today, but the biggest strike against them is a lack of quality wins and a lack of wins away from home.  Their margin for error in conference is razor thin.  BYU has yet to win a true road game this year, so you can’t give SMC too much credit for this win either.