News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Jan 5th

Below is a rundown of tonight’s action, as well as a quick look back at last night.

NEWS AND NOTES

-For the most recent Hoops HD Report Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-This is not hyperbole.  I don’t know how many college basketball games I watch each year, but it’s a lot.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was close to 1000.  Maybe more.  Last night’s Oklahoma v Kansas game was one of the best games I’ve seen in three or four years.  It was an exciting game between two really good teams that played really well.  For 55 minutes.  Kansas won, but I don’t penalize Oklahoma at all for not beating one of the two best teams on their floor.  In fact, to have a lead against them after 54 minutes is quite remarkable.  #1 seeds almost never lose at home.  the four #1 seeds may lose a combined total of one or two games a year if it’s even that many.  Most #1 seeds don’t even beat other #1 seeds on the road.  Oklahoma is still in amazingly good shape, especially if they can take advantage of future games against Kansas and Iowa State both in the regular season and in the conference tournament.

-Virginia Tech picked up a big home win against rival Virginia.  This is big in terms of building momentum and giving their fans a feeling that the program is turning around.  They still have a long way to go, but they appear to be on the right road.  This has always been a difficult game for UVA, and they just weren’t able to pull it out last night.

-North Carolina picked up their first true road win at Florida State, which was a good one because the Seminoles came into that game unbeaten at home.

-A quick UTR note, Grambling is 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 1994 with their win at home against Alabama State!

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MERCER AT CHATTANOOGA (Southern) – CLICK HERE For Chad’s UTR GOTD write up on this game

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT AUBURN (SEC).  South Carolina is unbeaten on the season with several decent wins, but no really good ones.  This will be a test going on the road against an improving Auburn program.

-WISCONSIN AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  Indiana hasn’t been the top fifteen team that we were expecting, at least not yet, but they’re still a solid tournament team and will remain in somewhat decent shape if they can hold serve at home.

-MARQUETTE AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Providence is looking more and more like a protected seed with a strong record and some really big wins.  Marquette has a lot of work to do.  An upset win isn’t likely, but it would go a very long way to help them.

-VCU AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten).  Saint Joe’s is a very surprising 11-2, whereas VCU is a somewhat disappointing 9-5.  Joe’s can play their way into the NCAA Tournament if they keep it up.

-AKRON AT BUFFALO (MAC).  At 11-2, Akron has an outside shot at best at landing inside the bubble, and they’d pretty much need to win out to do it.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT BAYLOR (Big Twelve).  Baylor was absolutely crushed by Kansas over the weekend, and is suddenly in a situation where their profile needs some meet on it.  Oklahoma State’s profile could use some meet as well.  In short, both these teams have work to do if they want to end up being in the discussion.

-KANSAS STATE AT TEXAS (Big Twelve).  Texas has been inconsistent this year, but that’s a lot better than being consistently bad.  Every game is a big game when you’re trying to make the NCAA Tournament.  K State has been better than what we thought, and they can keep that up with a big road win tonight.

-CLEMSON AT SYRACUSE (ACC).  Syracuse needs to win their home games against non tournament teams, which is what Clemson appears to be right now.

-BUTLER AT DEPAUL (Big East).  Butler is off to an 0-2 start in league play and needs to rebound with what should be one of their more winnable road games at DePaul tonight.  If they lose they don’t necessarily need to panic, but they will really need to get it together.

-KENTUCKY AT LSU (SEC).  LSU has looked better in their last couple of games, but they still have a ton of work to do if they want to play their way back into relevance.  Beating Kentucky, who still looks like a protected seed, would certainly help.

-VANDERBILT AT ARKANSAS (SEC).  Vandy has been very disappointing this year, and has yet to win a true road game.  They need to win against teams that aren’t tournament teams, and that means winning on the road at Arkansas tonight.

-NEBRASKA AT IOWA (Big Ten).  Iowa is suddenly looking like one of the best teams out there with wins over Michigan State and at Purdue.  Throw in a close loss at Iowa State earlier this year and you’ve got three very impressive showings against top notch competition.  This is a winnable conference game against a Nebraska team that has struggled on the road.

-GEORGETOWN AT CREIGHTON (Big East).  Georgetown has been all over the map this year.  They’ve looked amazingly good in close losses at Maryland and against Duke, and they’ve looked pathetic in home losses to Radford and UNC Asheville.  The opportunities will be there for them to get statement wins, but they have to win the games against non-tournament teams as well, which includes Creighton.

-BOISE STATE AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West).  In order for either of these teams to get any attention from the committee at all they basically need to win out.