NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between Texas Southern v Jackson State – CLICK HERE
-Dayton and George Washington were close for most of the game before the Flyers finally pulled away in the final minutes. Both teams appeared to be in somewhat of a tailspin so it was a nice win for the Flyers.
-Monmouth picked up another road win as they gave Iona their first home loss last night. The game was back and fourth for about the first thirty minutes, but Monmouth could not miss and opened it up in the second half for a high scoring 110-102 win. It’s another impressive road win on an already impressive profile. But, what could also end up playing a role is what happened after the game. As the teams were shaking hands a scuffle broke out with several players shoving each other, and at least one player (Iona’s Jordan Washington) throwing and landing a punch (or perhaps more of a slap, but still against the rules). I would expect that there will be suspension over this, but cannot say for sure what players or for how long, but it could negatively impact both teams, which is not a good thing to happen to a team that’s trying to stay inside the bubble.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SOUTH FLORIDA AT MEMPHIS (American). Memphis has a long way to go. They pretty much need to win out just to get to the point of being in the discussion.
-CINCINNATI AT TEMPLE (American). Temple won at Cincinnati earlier this year, so this is a big chance for the Bearcats to pick up a road win and offset that loss. They really need to take care of business in games against non tournament caliber teams from here on out.
-SYRACUSE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC). Syracuse is in such a tailspin that it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to come out of it. A win at Wake would be a huge step in the right direction, though. Wake has kind of hit a slump of their own and could use a win to build up some momentum.
-OHIO STATE AT MARYLAND (Big Ten). Maryland is still high in the rankings, but even though their record is bloated they don’t have a lot of huge wins yet. Ohio State has been playing better, but they still have a long way to go before they can feel safe.
-NC STATE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC). This is a bitter rivalry, but this year it appears to be a very big mismatch. UNC should easily end up as a protected seed, whereas NC State doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to the field.
-SAINT JOHN’S AT BUTLER (Big East). This is a winnable conference home game for Butler. Slipping up in this one would be a bad thing.
-INDIANA AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten). Indiana has a bloated record, but they still don’t have much in the way of big wins. This certainly wouldn’t qualify as a big win, but it is a rare winnable conference road game for the Hoosiers.
-MISSOURI AT SOUTH CAROLINA (SEC). Missouri has yet to win on the road and it isn’t likely that South Carolina will drop this one today.
-VILLANOVA AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). Nova can pick up their fourth true road win and remain a frontrunner in the Big East. They are a very strong team with a chance to end up on the #1 line.
-FORDHAM AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Atlantic Ten). We have Saint Joe’s just outside our bubble, so they still have a shot at making the field. They can’t afford slip ups in games like this, though.
-TEXAS A&M AT GEORGIA (SEC). TAMU has looked like one of the best teams in the SEC, if not the best. They have a chance to contend for the title and to end up as a protected seed. Road wins are always good for the profile, and this is a winnable road game.
-TCU AT KANSAS (Big Twelve). There aren’t many mismatches in this league, but this is one of the few. Kansas should roll at home.
-BOSTON COLLEGE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Pitt is coming off a loss to Louisville, but shouldn’t have too much trouble rebounding today.
-NOTRE DAME AT DUKE (ACC). Notre Dame is right on the bubble, and although Duke hasn’t been quite as good as many of us were expecting this year, they’re still unbeaten at home. This is the kind of game that could really boost the Irish’s resume, but winning at Duke is far easier said than done.
-MIAMI FL AT CLEMSON (ACC). Clemson is red hot all of a sudden with wins against Syracuse, Louisville, and Duke. They still have a long way to go, but if they keep it up they’ll play their way into the tournament. They have another tough test today despite being at home. Miami is coming off just their second loss of the year, which was a close game at Virginia.
-XAVIER AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Marquette has been playing great lately, and this is a chance for them to really build up some momentum. Xavier comes in highly ranked, but given how well Marquette has been playing recently this may be one of Xavier’s toughest tests to date.
-WILLIAM & MARY AT UNC WILMINGTON (Colonial). William & Mary picked up a nice win at Charleston earlier this week. Their profile is good enough to where they can end up inside the bubble, but only if they run away from the rest of the Colonial. UNC Wilmington currently has just one home loss, so like a lot of games this one won’t be easy.
-VCU AT RICHMOND (Atlantic Ten). This is a big rivalry game, and it’s an important one for a VCU team that’s been playing very well these past few weeks. They had some struggles in December, but right now VCU is looking as strong as anyone else in the conference.
-BAYLOR AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve). Texas Tech has proven themselves to be home court heroes, and up until recently so had Baylor. Both teams have a lot of room for improvement, especially Texas Tech who needs to keep holding serve at home, but also has to eventually beat someone on the road.
-KENTUCKY AT AUBURN (SEC). Kentucky is safely inside the bubble, but they still have some work to do if they want to end up as a protected seed. They have just one true road win, and this is a very winnable road game for them so they need to take care of business.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT OKLAHOMA (Big Twelve). West Virginia is coming off an impressive home win against Kansas, but winning on the road against what looks to be the #1 team in the country is even a much taller order. This is probably the singular toughest challenge of the year for the Mountaineers.
-IOWA STATE AT KANSAS STATE (Big Twelve). Iowa State needs some true road wins if they want to end up on one of the top four lines. K State has just one home loss, and the Cyclones have just one true road win, so this would help boost their resume quite a bit.
-JAMES MADISON AT HOFSTRA (Colonial). These look to be two of the better teams in the Colonial, but anything short of running away from the league won’t be enough to even get them in the discussion.
-SETON HALL AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Seton Hall has been playing a lot better lately, but this is an extremely tough test for them. Providence has lost two games, and although one of them was at home in a rather surprising result against Marquette, it’s not something they’re in the habit of doing.
-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon). Chattanooga needs to win out in order to feel safe. Anything short of that and they’ll be sweating. They may be sweating even if they do win out.
-BYU AT PORTLAND (West Coast). BYU is coming off a big win against Gonzaga, and there may be room for them inside the bubble if they can dominate the rest of the way, but anything short of that probably won’t be enough.
-ALABAMA AT VANDERBILT (SEC). Vandy has been a big disappointment this year, whereas Alabama has been a big surprise. They blew out South Carolina earlier this week and if they can pick up this road win they’ll add yet another win of note to their resume.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT TEXAS (Big Twelve). Texas has been very strong at home, but not so much on the road. Still, we’re projecting them just into the field right now, and it’s important that they avoid losses to sub tournament teams at home.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT DUQUESNE (Atlantic Ten). I don’t know if the Bonnies will be there in the end, but they’ve won eight of their last nine and if they pick up yet another conference road win they’ll continue to inch closer and closer to contending for the tournament.
-UAB AT CHARLOTTE (Conference USA). UAB is coming off their biggest win of the year with their road win at Old Dominion. I still don’t think they’ll have enough quality wins on their profile to be in position to get an at-large, but if they win out they’ll probably at least be in the discussion.
-WASHINGTON AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac Twelve). We have both these teams right on our bubble, so it’s a big game for both teams since both need to improve their resumes.
-FLORIDA AT OLE MISS (SEC). This is another match up between two bubble teams who have a lot of work to do if they want to end up on the right side of it. Ole Miss has played well at home this season, and has a brand new arena to go along with it, so if the Gators could pull this off it would be a huge win for them.
-SAN DIEGO AT GONZAGA (West Coast). Gonzaga is coming off a home loss to a non tournament team, and seeing as how they don’t have a lot of big wins on their profile they could be in trouble if they don’t blow through the league. They appear to be undermatched today, though.
-GREEN BAY AT VALPARAISO (Horizon League). If Valpo wins out, which they are definitely good enough to do, they should be safely in the field.
-ARKANSAS AT LSU (SEC). LSU has continued to improve, especially at home, but they still have quite a bit of ground to make up. Having said that, they do finally appear to be heading in the right direction.
-PENN STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten). I personally am not as big on Northwestern as the rest of the people at Hoops HD, but at 15-3 they need to at least be on the radar, even if none of their wins are against anyone that’s all that good.
-HAWAII AT CAL STATE FULLERTON (Big West). Hawaii hasn’t played many road games this year, and they’ll need to pick up wins in the remaining chances that they have if they want any shot at being in the discussion for an at-large.
-UTAH VALLEY AT GRAND CANYON (WAC). The Team of the People is back in action!!! They can improve to an amazing 16-2!! I know they’re schedule has been weak, but for a transitional program what they are doing is absolutely amazing! #LopesWaiver!!
-WASHINGTON STATE AT ARIZONA (Pac Twelve). Arizona has had a rather rough week, so a winnable home game like this is probably a very welcome site.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West). Boise is a somewhat impressive 13-4, but they don’t have much in the way of quality wins, and unfortunately their conference doesn’t provide them with many opportunities. They need to continue to absolutely dominate this league in order to get any sort of consideration at all. San Diego State was a team we really liked coming into the year, but they’ve been disappointing this season.
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