News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Jan 25th

NEWS AND NOTES

-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between Lamar and SFA – CLICK HERE

-John Stalica’s latest bracket projections will be posted later this afternoon.  Be on the lookout for it.

-If you’re an SMU fan, you’re not going to like this, but I don’t care.  People say that Temple ruined SMU’s perfect season.  In reality, SMU’s season was rather imperfect before they even played their first game.  Not being able to play in the postseason no matter what you do is the exact opposite of perfect.  I’m a very big critic of the NCAA, but in this case I find it very hard to believe that this is an unfortunate and unfair misstep.  There are two rather ugly variables in play here.  SMU with their history, and Larry Brown with his history.  For programs that have gotten themselves in trouble and then have had everyone scatter while new people come in and have to clean up the mess, I’m sympathetic and supportive of those individuals.  But, that’s not the case with SMU.  The people that made the mess are still there, and in my opinion they shouldn’t be going to the postseason, even if they are the best team on the court.  Grand Canyon deserves it a lot more than they do.

It was a nice win for Temple, and it’s the kind of win that will get them a look if they win out.  I like Temple’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament a lot more than SMU’s. (rimshot)

-Utah needed quality wins, and they needed a road win, and they got both yesterday with their overtime win against Washington.  That completely changes the complexion of the Utes’ profile.  I must say that I’m surprises they pulled it out.  For a second there I thought things were getting a little too intense.

-Providence is inexplicably better on the road than they are at home this year.  Their overtime win at Villanova yesterday is the kind of stuff that #1 seeds are made of.  The problem is that they have losses at home to teams that, while good, are nowhere close to being protected seeds.  Fortunately for Providence, the NCAA Tournament games won’t be home games.

-I was about ready to write off Oregon State, but they absolutely trounced a very good USC team at home yesterday.  Granted, they were at home, but it was still a big win.  In other news, back in November I never thought I would be saying something along the lines of “what a big win for Oregon State that was!!  Over USC!!”  If I had I think Chad, John, Joby, and CO. would have wanted to send me back to rehab.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-DUKE AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  Miami looks to be better than Duke at this point, but on the court and on paper.  Duke can still end up as a protected seed, but they probably need a road win like this on order to be able to secure it.  Two ranked ACC teams.  Business as usual, I guess.

-KANSAS AT IOWA STATE (Big Twelve).  This is another monster road test for the Jayhawks, and I think if they want to end up on the #1 line they need to win at least one of these huge road games (Iowa State, Oklahoma, or Baylor).  They’ve already fallen at West Virginia, and they certainly don’t need to win ALL of those, but the teams who end up on the #1 line generally manage to win one game like that.  It should be another crazy atmosphere and another fun game.

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