News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Jan 24th

NEWS AND NOTES

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

For Jon Teitel’s latest seed list, where he is guessing what the real selection committee would do if the season ended today – CLICK HERE (Bracket Coming Soon)

-One of the craziest and most important game from yesterday is one that almost no one saw.  Little Rock went into Arlington and jumped all over them.  They actually built a 42-14 lead in the first half.  UT Arlington mounted a furious comeback late in the second half, and a 13-0 run helped cut an 18 point lead all the way down to 3.  Little Rock did hold on to win, which gives them a much needed quality road win, which will help them on Selection Sunday if they end up needing the automatic bid.

-Oklahoma looked like the #1 team when they opened up a huge second half lead against a very good Baylor team on the road.  Baylor perhaps isn’t a top ten team, but they’re certainly good enough to beat top ten teams at home, so that was a very good win for the Sooners.

-Arizona suffered another close road loss when they fell at Cal 74-73.  It’s not a bad list by any means for the Wildcats, but they do need to get a few wins like that if they want to end up as a protected seed.

-Butler fell at Creighton, and is now a rather disturbing 2-5 in Big East play.  Again, it’s rare to see teams go sub 500 in conference and make the field, and if a team is more than two games below 500 it almost never happens.  Three of their next four games are winnable, and they really do need to win them all.

-Pittsburgh got one of their better wins of the year yesterday when they won on the road at Florida State.  They needed quality wins, and road wins, and they managed to help both of those needs yesterday.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TULANE AT CINCINNATI (American).  Cincinnati is currently outside our bubble, and losing at home to a weak Tulane team would knock them even further back.

-SMU AT TEMPLE (American).  SMU is still unbeaten, and Temple has been both hot and cold this year, so it could potentially be a good game.

-WILLIAM & MARY AT HOFSTRA (Colonial).  These are two of the better teams in the league, and although both are long shots for at-large bids, this is a chance for one or both of them to pick up what should be one of their more notable wins of the year.

-PURDUE AT IOWA (Big Ten).  Both these teams have great profiles, especially Iowa, and are looking like protected seeds.  Iowa could end up as high as the #1 line.  They haven’t lost a Big Ten game yet.

-VALPARAISO AT NORTHERN KENTUCKY (Horizon League).  Valpo fell at Wright State earlier in the week and can’t afford another slip up.  NKU has struggled this year, but they’ve been playing much better lately.

-VILLANOVA AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  Both could end up being protected seeds, and Nova’s profile is so good they could end up as high as a #1 seed.  Providence has been a little up and down lately, but they’ve still been very good overall.  The game is at the Wells Fargo Center, which will still heavily favor Nova, but it isn’t quite as tough as beating them at the Pavilion.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  UNC keeps getting better and better, and I’m actually kind of expecting them to end up as a #1 seed.  But, they’ll need to win pretty much every game like this one in order to do it.  VA Tech isn’t the best team out there, but they’re also not the easiest team to beat at home.

-USC AT OREGON STATE (Pac Twelve).  USC is having a fantastic year, and they could end up as a protected seed, which seemed unheard of at the beginning of the year.  This would be a nice road win for them if they’re able to pull it off.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  I love how VCU has been playing as of late, and I expect they’ll pick up another win and remain unbeaten in A10 play.  Their profile still needs some work, but based on how they’ve been playing I think they’ll be feeling pretty safe on Selection Sunday.

-MARQUETTE AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  Marquette is on the outside looking in, and can’t afford losses in games like this if they want that to change. Due to the Blizzard of 2016, this game has been moved from Madison Square Garden to St. John’s on-campus digs at Carnesecca Arena.

-DAYTON AT FORDHAM (Atlantic Ten).  Dayton’s profile is very good, and they should be very safely in if they keep it up.  Fordham isn’t a tournament team, but they are very much improved and only have one home loss so far, so this would be a nicer win for Dayton than what most may realize.

-EVANSVILLE AT INDIANA STATE (Missouri Valley).  It’s the same story for Evansville.  They have a bloated record, but haven’t faced too many real challenges, so their margin for error is razor thin.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT LA SALLE (Atlantic Ten, Big Five).  Saint Joe’s is an amazing 5-0 in true road games, and they’re on the right side of our bubble.  La Salle isn’t that strong this year, but this is a Big Five rivalry game.  Joe’s doesn’t want to lose to a rival, nor do they want a bad loss like this on their profile.

-SYRACUSE AT VIRGINIA (ACC).  Syracuse has been way up at times, and way down at others.  That being said, they’re hovering around our bubble and could really use a big road win like this to help them end up inside of it.  Virginia has struggled in true road games, but they’re perfect at home this year, and I still think they’ll end up as a protected seed if they can hold serve at home and pick up a few road wins.

-UTAH AT WASHINGTON (Pac Twelve).  Washington is right on our bubble, and Utah is in but needs to win some more road wins if they want to contend for a protected seed.  Both teams are good, but there is certainly room for both to move up, and this game would certainly help.