Another somewhat busy night in college basketball just before the Holidays!
–For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Georgia State and a very good Middle Tennessee team that is certainly a tournament caliber team – CLICK HERE
-Yesterday was pretty much a day of chalk with nothing really noteworthy or cataclysmic happening. Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery stormed off the court after their game against North Dakota. Iowa had the ball and was just letting the clock run out when UND made a quick steal and layup at the buzzer. It’s not something you normally see, but I think it’s a stretch to say what North Dakota did was out of line, much less so far out of line that you storm off without shaking hands. Perhaps the spread was ten points, and he took the over on his own team?? To McCaffery’s credit he did apologize this morning.
-KENTUCKY AT LOUISVILLE (***Spotlight Game***). On paper, it’s two protected seeds looking for a huge quality win on their resume, and in the case of Kentucky, looking for the kind of road win that could distinguish them as a #1 seed. Off paper, it is one of the most heated rivalries in college sports, and perhaps even all of American sports. Kentucky has dominated this series in recent years, and you get the feeling that Louisville needs to win it as much for their mental health as they do for their tournament profile. With four big games coming up for Louisville, a win in this game gives them some much needed momentum, whereas a loss would give them a much unneeded hangover. It should be fun. It should be wild. But, it may not necessarily be well played. Another regular staple of this game is that it is oftentimes a poorly played and sloppy game. That was not the case last year, but that has been the case in recent years.
-ILLINOIS VS MISSOURI (Braggin’ Rights Game!! Saint Louis, MO). Ummmm….it’s called the Braggin’ Rights game. But, is it really anything to boast over if you win it this year??
-TOWSON VS NEVADA (South Point Holiday Hoops Classic, Las Vegas). Technically not a buy game, but it’s pretty close for a Nevada team that desperately needs wins of any sort to remain relevant. Ditto for the Mountain West.
-VANDERBILT AT DAYTON. Dayton has held serve and for the most part won the games they were expected to win, but up until this point they’ve done little else and need some notable wins on their profile while continuing to hold serve. Beating Vandy at home probably doesn’t qualify as noteworthy, but at the very least they need the win to hold serve.
-OAKLAND AT MICHIGAN STATE. Oakland has just two losses on the year, they took Michigan State to overtime last year, and Michigan State is in a complete tailspin at the moment.
-JACKSONVILLE AT CHATTANOOGA. Chattanooga pretty much needs to win out.
-LITTLE ROCK AT FLORIDA. Little Rock enters this game at a very respectable 9-3 and although it’s not likely that they’ll end up inside the bubble (especially with losses against Idaho, Pepperdine and Oral Roberts), a win today would be putting the committee in a position to where they’d at least be forced to look at them. While Florida just needs to string together some wins to get back into the rankings, they finally will play their first true home game in a refurbished O-Dome tonight.
-SAINT JOHN’S AT SYRACUSE. This is an old Big East rivalry, which is the kind of game Syracuse has been struggling in these past few years. In recent weeks, Syracuse has been struggling in seemingly every kind of game. They cannot afford to lose to a team that is of buy game quality, which Saint John’s appears to be.
-AKRON VS UC IRVINE (Sun Bowl Classic – El Paso). Akron is a team that we’re kinda, sorta, maybe, thinking could possibly be a bubble team. Maybe. Perhaps. Probably not, but….maybe. Having said that, this is the kind of game away from home they absolutely need to win. This is a bracketed 2-day event (the other game is Maryland-Eastern Shore/UTEP), but is NOT an exempt event.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT NORTH CAROLINA. This is a return game from last year, but it may end up looking like a buy game given the way UNI has been playing lately.
-AUBURN VS OKLAHOMA (Birthday of Basketball Classic, Mohegan Sun). I get the sense that these are two teams that could potentially contend for the NCAA Tournament, but probably won’t. Nevertheless, if they’re going to do it then they need to win this game. (The Fairfield-Boston College game precedes this one, but is only worth watching if you are either Lee Delvecchio, a Fairfield fan or both.)
-ARKANSAS STATE AT ALABAMA. I actually had Arkansas State just inside my bubble on my last bracket projections. If they are a tournament team, they will be able to win this game. Alabama has looked like an NIT team at best, and it’s the kind of road game that an at-large caliber team should be able to win.
-CLEMSON AT SOUTH CAROLINA. Clemson has held serve, but they need a big win. Beating a rival on the road, who appears to be a tournament caliber team, would certainly qualify as a big win both on and off paper. As for SC, their good wins still look okay, but not quite as good as they did at the moment they won them, so they need to have a sense of urgency as well. Sindarius Thornwell remains suspended for the Gamecocks for this one as well.
-OHIO AT WESTERN KENTUCKY. Ohio U can pick up their second true road win and improve to 8-2 overall.
-VIRGINIA AT CALIFORNIA. Up until now, Cal has done little else other than win home buy games. This is still a home game, but it will put something on their profile that they don’t have much of yet, and that’s any sort of win that isn’t a home buy game. As for Virginia, it’s a chance to pick up a notable road win.
BUY GAMES
-Longwood @ Texas Tech
-Elon @ Duke
-American @ Villanova
-Norfolk State @ Purdue
-Omaha @ Pittsburgh
-Bethune Cookman @ UCF
-Jacksonville @ Davidson
-Vermont @ Butler – watch out for Vermont once America East play begins, though
-Texas Southern @ Baylor
-Saint Francis U @ Texas A&M
-UAB @ Texas
-Gardner Webb @ Kansas State
-Incarnate Word @ Memphis
-Liberty @ Houston
-SIUE @ Marquette
-South Dakota @ Gonzaga
-Bradley @ TCU
-Western Michigan @ UCLA