News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Feb 18th

NEWS AND NOTES

-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast, where we discuss what was a bad week for a lot of teams that were on the bubble – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between NJIT and North Florida, which has first place implications in the Atlantic Sun – CLICK HERE

-Duke v North Carolina always seems to be an exciting game, and yesterday was no exception.  North Carolina appeared to be the better team, and they were playing at home.  They pretty much led for the entire game, but Duke was always within arms reach.  The Blue Devils finally got the lead in the final minute, and held on to win when UNC missed what would have been a game winning shot.  It is clearly the biggest win of the season for Duke, both on and off paper, and for a team that looked like they may be heading toward the bubble just a few weeks ago is once again looking like and playing like a protected seed.

-I’ve been making the case as to how great I think Oklahoma is all season long.  I still like them.  I still think that they ultimately end up as a #1 seed.  But, they’ve lost three of their last four with the most recent being at Texas Tech last night, who may be a tournament team (and likely is), but hasn’t exactly looked like a protected seed.  It was a huge win for Texas Tech, who has had quite a week these past couple days with wins at Baylor (decisively) and now against Oklahoma.  Their profile is suddenly looking amazing.

-Iowa is another team that has been on my #1 line for over a month now.  They lost at Penn State.  I still like the Hawkeyes and still think they have some amazing wins on their profile, but they’re certainly not invincible.

-Xavier knocked off Providence rather convincingly, although Providence did make a late run to make the score respectable.  Xavier, along with Villanova, are squarely in the picture for a #1 seed.

-Dayton went down at Saint Joseph’s, which was a big win for Joe’s.  It shouldn’t be too damaging for the Flyers considering they were the road team, and that they were ultimately shorthanded.  I still like this Dayton team and although I don’t think they’ll end up as a protected seed, the opportunity is still there for them.

-24 hours ago I was beginning to think that I really liked Saint Bonaventure, and would make a case to put them on the bubble, or maybe even in my field when I did my next bracket this afternoon.  Then, they lost on the road to La Salle.  That’s not good for a bubble team.  That’s really not good for any team

-Alabama got a HUGE win at LSU last night.  They have been playing amazingly well lately, and one has to admire the job Avery Johnson has done with this team, especially when you consider that they lost a key player for the season earlier in the year.  I think they’ll end up making the field based on how well they’ve been playing.

-Florida State keeps shooting themselves in the foot.  Losing at home to non-tournament teams is not what they need to be doing, yet they fell at home to Georgia Tech last night, who is an awful road team, BTW.

-I don’t know if you want to call this a collapse by Colorado, or a great comeback by USC.  It was probably a little bit of both, but USC came back to beat a Colorado team that led them for most of the game.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TENNESSEE AT KENTUCKY (SEC).  Kentucky is coming off one of their most impressive wins of the year, and has looked very strong at home all season long.  If they keep going like they have been they should end up as a protected seed.

-UNC WILMINGTON AT WILLIAM & MARY (Colonial).  It will take some proper aligning from the stars, but if Wilmington wins out they should be in the discussion for an at-large.  This is one of their tougher remaining games, but judging by how well they’ve been playing it’s entirely possible that they’ll run the table through the rest of the regular season.

-MISSOURI STATE AT WICHITA STATE (Missouri Valley).  Wichita is another team that I think needs to win out through the regular season, and perhaps avoid a loss in the quarterfinals of their conference tournament.  If they do all that then they should be okay.

-LITTLE ROCK AT GEORGIA STATE (Sun Belt).  This is one of Little Rock’s tougher remaining games.  I’d like to think they’ll be safe if they win out through the regular season, but you can’t say for certain.  At the very least they should get a very serious look.

-SMU AT UCONN (American).  UConn is on the bubble, and like any bubble team they need to pick up notable wins, and avoid bad losses.  This would fall into the former category.

-MARYLAND AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten).  There aren’t many easy road games in the Big Ten, but this is probably one of them.  Minney’s next conference win will be their first.

-CINCINNATI AT TULSA (American).  Bubblelicious!!! Both these teams are right on the bubble.  And like any bubble team, they need notable wins, and they need to avoid bad losses.  Winning this game would really help, and losing it would really hurt.

-WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Wiscy has been playing great and just picked up a huge road win at Maryland which does a ton to help out their profile.  If they pick this one up they may shoot so far into the bubble that they’re looking like  team that will be wearing white in the round of 64.

-UMKC AT GRAND CANYON (WAC).  The Team of the People!!! Grand Canyon is right on the cusp of being the first transitional team ever (at least that we know of) to finish in the top 100 of the RPI.  And, we still haven’t given up hope!!  #LopesWaiver

-PACIFIC AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  I think the Zags will be okay for a bid if they win out, despite not having any really big wins on their profile yet.

-SAINT MARY’S AT PORTLAND (West Coast).  For the life of me I can’t figure out why people are still looking at Saint Mary’s, but they are.  Winning this game won’t help them.  Or, at least, it shouldn’t, but virtually nothing they’ve done suggests they are a tournament caliber team.

-HAWAII AT CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (Big West).  I don’t think the committee would take Hawaii even if they win out, but if they do they should at least get a look.

-UTAH AT UCLA (Pac Twelve).  Utah has a fairly healthy profile and can add another road win to it tonight.

-CALIFORNIA AT WASHINGTON (Pac Twelve).  Most people like Cal, but the one thing they’re really lacking is wins away from home.  Picking up a road win against a Washington team that’s on the bubble will help them out a ton because if the year ends and their only road win was at Wyoming, I don’t think that’s enough even though they’ve had several big home wins.